


Shadow of the Moon: A Sun Never Sets sequel

by GreyWolfGhost



Series: Sun Never Sets Twilight Saga [8]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Canon Continuation, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Forks High School (Twilight), Forks Washington, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, High School, Human/Vampire Relationship, Immortality, Little Brothers, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Original Character, Seattle, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Twilight References, Vampire Family, Vampires, Volturi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2020-07-28 07:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 69,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20060578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyWolfGhost/pseuds/GreyWolfGhost
Summary: The 3rd installment to the Sun Never Sets series: Eclipse from the point of view of the youngest Cullen, Christian. OC. Please read Sun Never Sets and the Moon Never Rises first if you really would like to be able to fully enjoy this fic and understand who the additional characters not from the actual Twilight series are.





	1. Chapter 1

I wasn't sure how things would be going back to school at Forks. I had made sure that leaving my Forks friends would be barely missed by them, even Marie. I mean I stayed in touch with them, but it was a pen-pal kind of deal, with the silent understanding that eventually we would all lose track of each other, as we "got older". Going back now, would I have to start over again as far as distancing myself from my friends? I wasn't sure, heck I wasn't sure I would even be able to now, or even want too at this point.

I hate going into a new situation basically blind, but I was both surprised and pleased that it was as if I had never left Forks high school, at least within the small group that made up our English class who all welcomed me back easily. I mean we all had homeroom together so when I walked into the classroom the first Monday we returned to school, there were surprised looks all around.

Marie practically flew out of her desk to hug me, Sarah right behind her. Like I said it was if I had never left, both in the social aspect as well as the academic one.

Within a week of being back, Marie began inviting me over to her house for dinner. I was hesitant about doing so and managed to put it off for a while, a week turning into two weeks. We were loaded down with midterm projects and reports so all of us were occupied with them, leaving no time really for socializing.

But it finally reached the point nearly three weeks later, where I could not make up any more excuses and just had to give in. We made plans for the ninth of April, a Sunday, I was going over to the Burke's for dinner and family game night.

I was really concerned about how dinner at a friend's house would go, I mean it's not like I get invited places on a regular basis. It was easy to pretend that I was eating at school, and of course, when Marie, her grandmother, and I had gone out to dinner last year, I had managed to put on a show regarding the dinner.

At Marie's graduation party last June, her father was grilling hotdogs and hamburgers for everyone and still I was able to keep suspicion away from the fact I wasn't really eating. But it would be different with just the Burke family and me. That and this would be the first socializing between Marie and me outside of school since we moved back, we had studied together at the library for some of our projects, but it had been in groups and it had been school work so it didn't count.

Edward had spent the last few weeks kissing up to the entire family individually; he took the opportunity to continue this trend, by offering to drive me to Marie's house.

"So, things are settling back in okay?" Edward asked as we pulled off our driveway. I nodded, glancing out the window, wishing I could actually be four-wheeling instead of going to dinner. Don't get me wrong I was looking forward to hanging out with the Burke family, I just wish there was no dinner involved. "Chris?"

"Sorry," I replied looking at my brother quickly "yeah, things are good. It's like I never left." I paused "how's Bella doing?" this was a serious question, I saw her at school of course, but we never really talked with everyone around us and she hadn't been over our house in a while.

I knew she was grounded, pretty much forever. Chief Swan was really hit hard by Bella's out of the blue escapade to Italy with Alice. Granted who could blame him, I guess one of his best friends died the day before (hence the funeral that Edward thought was Bella's) and then he came home to find Bella gone with just a simple note. I think that would give anyone reason to be angry and of course, hurt.

Then if the situation couldn't get any worse for Bella and Chief Swan's already short fuse, that Jacob kid, the werewolf, showed up at the Swan's house wheeling a motorcycle.

Apparently, Bella had found two old motorcycles and had enlisted wolf boy to restore them, something about becoming an extreme sports junky (hence the dive off the cliff).

Anyways she must have kept the bikes with Jacob because Chief Swan would've killed her if he saw them and for some reason, Jacob felt the need to return Bella's, right when Chief Swan was home.

I haven't been able to decide if Jacob did it on purpose to get Bella in trouble and keep her from hanging out with Edward or if he didn't care one way or another and just did it out of spite. Either option fits in my mind.

I guess he blew another gasket and grounded Bella for an even longer sentence and had made her get rid of the bike.

She did technically get rid of the bike; it was living in our garage, parked right next to my Kawasaki. Bella's bike was kinda sweet in its own way, and I hated to admit it, but Jacob did a decent job of restoring it, better than his crappy old rabbit anyways. It ran pretty smoothly for its age and the condition that Bella said she found it in. I didn't know if Bella would ever have the bike back, but till she decided what to do with it, Jasper and I had taken to enjoying it.

The funny thing about the whole situation (Bella being grounded, not Chief Swan's loss of course) was that if Bella was grounded so was Edward technically. Chief Swan had made a curfew deal with Bella and Edward, Edward was allowed to visit her from seven to nine-thirty and only if Chief Swan was home.

I found it hilarious, Edward and Bella not so much, though they took it in stride. Though I'm not really sure what they were complaining about, it wasn't like they didn't spend pretty much every waking second together anyways, I mean Edward still stayed over Bella's house at night.

"She's doing better, she's a little worried about her classes." My ears perked up "and yes I was going to ask if you could help her out when finals come closer. She won't let me help, but for some reason, I don't think she'll refuse you."

"See she does love me," I said grinning wide.

"So a little nervous about dinner tonight?" Edward asked, changing the subject

"Gee, what was your first clue Professor X?" I replied, my tone a little sharper than I meant too.

Edward didn't comment on that, he gave me a hearty smile as if he hadn't heard my tone, I was still trying to figure out this new and more forgiving Edward. I should be thrilled about him, but it's a little weird.

"Marie definitely missed you," he continued "actually everyone missed you, you and Alice, I'm kind of in the doghouse still."

I raised an eyebrow

"Everyone?" I repeated

"I don't just mean your freshman friends, a lot of Bella's friends missed you as well."

"Like who?"

"Angela for one, Ben too,"

"Come off it Edward," I replied as we pulled closer to the Burke's street "they knew me for a few weeks if that."

"Angela is empathetic if you hadn't noticed."

I nodded slowly; I had certainly profiled that about her. I knew Angela's personality last year when I first saw her, she was my main pick for Marie's senior friend, unfortunately, things worked out differently and Marie ended up with another one of Bella's friends Jessica Stanley, who is not as attentive, I'm not saying she's an awful person, because from what I've experienced and profiled she's not, she's just a little narcissistic, a lot more in comparison to Angela and Bella, but a lot less than some others who sit at that lunch table.

There's a girl named Lauren who has this aura about her that screams egotistical, If I didn't know any better I'd swear that Lauren and Janet were sisters.

Anyways, Angela is the kind of person who wants to help everyone and be friends with everyone, so she kept Marie close that entire day and continued to do so into our freshman year of high school.

"Right," I answered wondering where he was going with that, it was stating the obvious, at least I thought so.

"Angela saw how much Marie missed you and empathized with that, and Ben followed her lead. You said that Marie joined the school chorus?" I nodded again "that was on the pushing of Angela and your friend, Patrick."

I sighed and grinned, I was going to have to get Angela a big thank you gift, somehow. I really owed her a lot.

"Well I wouldn't call Patrick a friend exactly, he tolerates me." I replied chuckling "he'd never say it out loud but I can read his body language, in the back of his mind he was hoping I wouldn't come back."

"Yeah, those thoughts were pretty loud that first day back. He was obviously ashamed of thinking that, but it didn't change the fact that he took your request to look after Marie above and beyond." I sighed again and Edward looked at me quickly "Chris?"

"We came back," I said softly, Edward could see where the conversation was going, but instead of picking my brain like he usually does, he just let me lead the way. "I made it last year so that if we did leave, my friends." That word felt so foreign as I said it, we have vampire friends, and I've had acquaintances at school, but Marie, Sarah, Paul, and the others, even Patrick they weren't just acquaintances, they were actual friends. "I knew that when the time for us to leave Forks, I would be able to break ties with them slowly. They'd move on with their lives with no problem. And they did, I mean you said Marie missed me, that my other friends missed me. But in reality, if we hadn't come back they would've been okay."

"That's certainly true," Edward replied

"Then bam, we come back, it's like we never left and here you are driving me to Marie's for dinner."

"So? What's the problem?"

I'm pretty sure by this point Edward was trying his best to NOT read my mind, I think he just wanted to see where I was going and see it the non-telepathic way.

"I've been thinking about this since we got back, am I doing more damage than good here? Should I have just left well enough alone as far as coming back? It's like I'm going to have to start over again and it'll be that much harder when we leave before next year."

"What makes you think we're leaving before next year?"

"We have to right? I mean you and Alice are graduating, that leaves me as the last one in school. Do you really think we should try me at sophomore year again? Remember how bad that went last time?"

The last time I stayed a school past freshman year had been a while ago. Rosalie, Alice, and Esme tried their hardest to make me look fifteen and it was a disaster, I ended up looking like a little kid trying on his older brother's clothes, with a stunted height and a voice that sounds like a thirteen-year-old.

No one said anything aloud, but Edward could hear the questions in everyone's thoughts, I could read it on their body language. It didn't fool anyone and we moving shortly after the start of school. I for one never wanted to try it again, at least not until recently.

"I think we should, I think we might be better prepared to try it this time around. It's worth a try Chris, we find a situation to do a test run and see how it goes from there."

He was right of course, I did want to give it another go, now that I was back where I felt the most comfortable I wasn't ready to leave just yet.

I wasn't sure why Edward was the one making this suggestion though, but I figured it was just more of him making up to us, he knew that I wanted approval for my decision to try one more year and he was giving it to me

"Yeah, I guess." I said as we pulled into Burke's half circle driveway. "thanks for the ride."

"What time do you want me to pick you up?" Edward asked grinning, I glanced at my watch, it was a quarter of six.

"Dunno I'll call you."

"Be forewarned," Edward said mischievously, his grin getting bigger.

"What?"

"Coach Burke is competitive when it comes to board games and he's ready for new competition and guess whose it, you could be here all night, school night or not."

I groaned and rolled my eyes, as I slammed the door to the Volvo shut as hard as I dared and headed for the house. Edward drove off and I swear I could still hear him laughing as I walked up the steps to ring the doorbell.

Mrs. Burke spent the entire meal asking if I'd had enough to eat. She had loaded my plate with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans and it was all I could do to keep a grin on my face instead of a grimace.

I'm 100% sure Mrs. Burke is a fantastic cook, but to me the food was disgusting going down, even sitting on my plate. Even though I took my time eating, pretending to savor every bite, the minute my plate looked even remotely clean, she piled on more food, it really was a no-win situation.

Luckily, the entire Burke family liked to talk during dinner, so the focus wasn't on my plate, but on talking to me. Mr. and Mrs. Burke asked me all sorts of questions about LA and how my parents were doing, I wondered if the Burke's were planning on a get together with Carlisle and Esme at some point. I could see Mrs. Burke wanted to have get together with my parents and she was trying to determine the best time to do so.

I answered the questions as best I could and made up most of it especially regarding LA. I've read enough about the city to pass it off that I was there for months, but LA is not a top vacation spot for a vampire, it's barely a good spot to drive through let alone live. The Burke's were none the wiser and it gave me the chance to move stuff around on the plate to make it look like I had eaten more than I actually had.

I was thankful when Mr. Burke pushed his chair back and thanked his wife for a wonderful dinner, before carrying his plate into the kitchen. I watched Marie and when she did the same I followed in suit. Mrs. Burke reached for my plate insisting that as the guest I was not required to clear the table, but I protested and said I would like to help.

Ten minutes later, the table was clear, the dishes were running through the dishwasher, and the Burke family and I were once again seated around the table, a board game waiting for us.

I've never really been a big fan of most board games, to me bored is right, I'll play trivial pursuit and stuff, but games like monopoly fail to hold my interest very long. So when I saw that the game Mr. Burke had planned was a game called the Game of Life, I was prepared to face it.

Just judging by the board however, I could see this game perhaps would go by faster than any monopoly game I've been subjected too; this at least had an end in sight.

"Chris do you want to be the banker?" Mr. Burke asked grinning I shrugged hoping there wasn't anything complicated to be the banker. Taking my shrug as a yes answer, Mr. Burke plopped a plastic container in front of me, with sections dividing each of the different dominations of fake money. "Okay everyone, get your car and person," Mr. Burke continued handing a bag of little people pegs and cars with six notches in it for said people around.

Mrs. Burke took the orange car, Marie the blue, Mr. Burke took white, and I grabbed the green one and watched Marie as she put her little pink peg in the driver seat of the car. She glanced up at me and nodded to the car, I grinned mischievously and put my little blue peg in the driver seat as well, only the driver seat if the peg was in England, IE the right side of the car. Marie saw that and burst out in quick giggles.

"Chris, sweetie when is your birthday?" Mrs. Burke asked as we all put our cars near the spinner and I handed out the correct amount of money.

"December 24th," I replied suspiciously

"So you're two months younger than Marie."

In theory, I thought and tried not to grin

"That means you don't get to spin first Ri Ri." Mr. Burke teased; the confused look on my face caught his attention

"Dad!" Marie exclaimed as her dad called her a pet name that she always seemed embarrassed by.

"The youngest spin first to see who plays first." He explained, "Marie has been used to going first all the time. It's a good change for someone new."

I was still confused, but I spun the little spinner carefully, it landed on a six, which I assumed was a good thing, six out of ten. Marie went next landing on a five, her mother a two and her dad a three.

"Looks like you get to go first, Chris." Mrs. Burke said, "you have to choose college or career."

I chuckled and looked over at Marie who grinned

"If you pick college you get a better career and salary option, but you have to pay money and you'll be in debt for a while. If you choose career you're limited on what you can pick for careers and salaries, but you have the option later in the game to go back to school and get a better career." Marie explained and I rubbed my temple, apparently, this game was going to hold my attention for a while, it was actually interesting. I decided to go to college for the heck of it, taking the loan out from the bank.

The game progressed pretty quickly and I had to admit, I had fun with it. When we reached the end and each of us "retired" we sold our properties and counted up our profits.

I ended up with 3.5 million thereabouts, which I thought was pretty good, Marie beat me by about a fifty thousand bucks, her dad he barely made it into the two thousand and was sulking about it, but it was Marie's mum who blew us all away with 5 million dollars. Mr. Burke was convinced that she cheated somehow and made it a huge discussion about it, during which Marie and I packed up the game and put it away, laughing at her parents the entire time. They obviously weren't actually fighting, but it was still like watching a pair of little kids arguing back and forth.

"I'm glad you guys came back, I'm sorry the study didn't work out," Marie said softly as I followed her down to the hall closet where the Burke's kept their games.

"I'm glad we're back too, and the study worked out. My dad's going to video chat his colleagues down there and stay informed on the study and do his best to help from up here. Mum just wasn't happy in LA at all, and to be honest neither was I. It'll mean my dad has to take some short business trips, but if it keeps us here in Forks for a while longer I won't complain."

Marie handed me the game and I reached up to the top shelf to store it there. We exchanged a grin and headed back to the dining room where her parents were still arguing goodheartedly about who really won the game.

"They do this every time; you should see when we play monopoly. You got off easy tonight, they had a game go so long I ended up going to bed four hours after it started, I declared bankruptcy and went to bed. I woke up around midnight, came out to get a glass of milk and they were still going."

I blinked, studying Marie's face to see if she was serious. I mean there's been times when Emmett and Jasper will have a chess game that goes on for hours, but that's a vampire thing, for the Burke's to have a board game go that long is pretty hilarious.

"Was it regular Monopoly?"

"It was actually Lord of the Rings Monopoly. My dad had hotels on the shire only, mom was winning easily owning pretty much the entire board and dad wouldn't give in."

I started laughing and Marie joined me, both her parents looked up at us from their argument and started laughing as well.

"Come on you too, I think there's some chocolate chip ice cream in the fridge, ice cream for all!" Mr. Burke called triumphantly leading the way back into the kitchen. I groaned and hit my forehead, more food…great.

When Edward came to pick me up an hour or so later, I thanked the Burke's for their hospitality and promised to come again soon. Marie hesitated for a second, but she hugged me tightly before darting back inside with her parents. Mr. Burke waved as I slid into the Volvo next to my brother and Edward honked the horn in response.

"So, did you have fun?" Edward asked with a grin, he could read my mind, he had seen the gaming night, the dinner, the argument between Mr. and Mrs. Burke and he was just as amused as I had been.

"It was interesting and amusing." I replied, "I thought Emmett was competitive, Mr. Burke makes Emmett look normal when it comes to competition." I paused "you going back to Bella's tonight?"

"Chief Swan had me out at 9:30 on the dot. After I drop you off I'm heading back over there." Edward replied grinning,

"Did you send Bella's application to the University of Alaska out?" I asked, my grin getting wider.

"As a matter of fact I did, and my own as well," Edward said speeding up a little towards our house.

"I get the hat right when you get accepted?"

"Yeah, yeah, you get the hat and the sweatshirt." He paused "don't you already have UA?"

I thought that over. I've got so many hats and sweatshirts from different colleges and universities I'm not only starting to lose track of them all, but I'm also starting to run out of room for them. Who knew that there were so many schools in the country?

"No, I'm pretty sure that's one of the only ones I don't have. Besides if you get Bella to apply to and be accepted to Dartmouth or even Harvard I can mooch those acceptance hats too." The look on Edward's face told all "you're already planning on applying her there aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Trying to delay Bella's decision?" I asked my question completely serious this time.

"Of course I am. I'm hoping she at least tries that human experience and enjoys it so much she'll want to hold off even longer."

"You mean besides the human experience of prom, graduation, marriage?" I was still serious; there was no trace of joking around with this part of the conversation.

"Yes, I did give Bella the alternative as far as that last one is concerned."

I took a deep breath

"She really is hopeful that you'll do it after graduation. It's in two months Edward and Bella is pretty stubborn, what are you going to do?" We pulled into the garage and Edward parked the Volvo neatly in between the Mustang and Rose's Beemer. "Edward?" I repeated tilting my head a bit.

"I don't know Chris to be honest, I'll think of something. We'll see how it goes." He paused and hit the brim of my hat. "Tell Esme I'll be home in the morning."

"Always do," I replied as my brother shot off into the woods and I wandered slowly into the house, ready to face my sisters and mother, as they would want to get details about how my first dinner over the Burke's went.


	2. Chapter 2

May eighth

"-With the death toll now nearing five confirmed, while others are still unaccounted for, it is a wonder Seattle's finest have continued to believe these are all random acts of violence. I'm Tina Jones, reporting live from police headquarters for Fox news, Henry and Melissa back to you."

"Ugh, don't put on Fox," I complained as I walked past Jasper who sat on the couch watching the news intently "they're idiots."

"Idiots who seem to be the only news station talking about the murders in Seattle." Jasper countered.

We'd been home in Forks for nearly two months now, things had gotten back to normal, well as normal as they could be in a town unknowingly hosting a family of vampires.

Unfortunately, things weren't staying normal; something was going on in Seattle, something that had us all on edge.

At first, it was pretty typical, Seattle is, after all, a city, its murder rates are bound to be higher than other less populated places. Then the disappearances started, in the past two weeks six people ranging from mid-teens to mid-twenties had gone missing, just vanished.

No one really thought anything of it because according to the news, this wasn't the first time for most of the missing to have vanished for long periods of time. It didn't change the fact it was odd.

The news stations, especially Fox had been looking for a good story and were reporting a connection between the murdered people and the missing ones.

The police, however, refused to comment on it and refused to give in to the media's pushing. I couldn't figure out for the life of me if they just notice something was wrong or just didn't want to admit they were falling behind the media.

Only the local news stations, IE Fox, had been reporting on either subject, none of the national stations felt the need to pick up on the subject. They obviously thought it was just a coincidence.

"It doesn't change the fact that they are idiots." I replied, "they're just motivated ones, sometimes that's even worse."

'What are your thoughts on this whole thing Chris?" Jasper asked as I vaulted over the back of the couch, sitting down next to him.

"My opinion, 'sides the intelligence level of Fox news?"

Jasper chuckled

"Yes beside that."

"I'm not sure what to make of it. I can say this, Seattle is in big trouble, either the media is making a series of mountains out of one anthill and are going force the cops to start an investigation into something that is just a daily occurrence in a city."

"Or?"

"Or the media isn't making a mistake, they've figured it out and the cops and the city are going to have to scramble when they realize it too. Either way, Seattle is in for a helluva time."

Jasper nodded, agreeing with my observation, a spike-like that in the murder rate was significant, but again Seattle is a city, with hundreds of thousands living there, people were bound to disappear and unfortunately, people were bound to be killed, it was just a sad normal statistic.

Once I got to school the talk of murders and disappearances changed to more mundane student-based discussion, more specifically the upcoming Freshman Sophomore dance.

I didn't know how I really felt about that event, in fact, I was pretty sure I'd rather listen to Fox news add fuel to the fire about Seattle's problems than be sucked into dance discussion.

What made it even worse or at least more difficult was it was not only themed, but it was a Sadie Hawkins thing, y'know the girls ask the guys out; this would be the second time a school did this kind of dance when I was in it. The last time had been in the seventies and it had been ridiculous then.

All morning the dance was all everyone could talk about; Sarah, Jenna, Kelly, and Marie couldn't stop talking about the dance. It was probably the first time I have ever heard one of those four get reprimanded for talking and passing notes. Of course, the teachers were lenient on them, who wouldn't be, I mean not one of those four ever get in trouble.

The main topic going around the four girls was who was asking who to the dance. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I mean the girls sit three rows behind me in English, had I been human ignoring them would've been simple, I wouldn't have been able to hear them. But with my superhuman hearing, it was hard to ignore them, especially when my name was mentioned.

With me in Marie's group of friends all of us consisting of our English class the previous year, there's an odd number of girls to guys, four girls, and five guys. So one guy was going to be out of the loop and I was really hoping I'd be the odd man out.

It wasn't fair to Paul, Patrick, Steve, or Nick. My plan was to find an excuse to NOT go; I'd go to Carlisle first he could help me come up with a plan, I'd explain my reasoning and just hope that Carlisle and I saw eye to eye. I had two concerns, Edward and Alice. I had to figure out how to make sure Edward didn't blab and make sure Alice didn't see Marie asking me.

It's not that I'm against going to a dance; I've given up avoiding Marie's dating idea at least for the time being. I had her to thank for the friends the actual friends I've made here at Forks so if she asked me to the dance, as much as I hated to dance I would go.

My main issue is next year, the year after, if I gave in to going to a dance with Marie, I was clearly messing with the futures of my Forks friends. It was the same issue last year when Marie asked me to go out to dinner and a movie with her and her grandmother, and I had the same concern then; was I doing more damage by giving in.

The girls were debating the same thing basically; they wanted our English class to go to the dance together, all nine of us with everyone paired up.

Oh, bloody hell they were going to fix somebody up with one of us guys. I slapped my forehead and tried to focus on Mr. Bertie's lecture, and trust me it was not easy.

By the time lunch rolled around most everything had been settled amongst the girls. I was trying my best not to listen, but I couldn't help it, it was like some magnetic pull that kept beckoning back to the conversation.

Apparently Marie and Sarah were going to talk to this girl in our health class, she's not in our English class, but including health she's in most of my classes, her name is Tisha, no one seems to be sure if that's short for Patricia or something else, she won't admit to anything.

She's new, having started while I was gone. She's quiet like Marie, but given the chance, she's outspoken and bubbly and had become pretty good friends with Marie, Sarah, and the rest of our group of friends. Not to mention (and I have no idea how girl gossip really works so I'm not sure how they knew this unless she told them) Tisha fancies Steve.

Anyways, instead of eating lunch with me and our senior friends, Marie joined Sarah, Kelly, and Jenna at a table off to the side, pulling Tisha with them.

No good could come from those girls plotting, but if it kept them away from my brother and possibly away from Alice's predictions I would be happy with it.

I tried to hide my thoughts from Edward as I sat down next to Alice, she looked up at me grinning wide, but it was Edward's smirk that had me concerned.

You say one word Edward and you will find your Martin and Volvo on eBay for ten dollars and free shipping. I thought, trying to make my thoughts sound at least a little threatening.

Bella caught my attention she had a pile of books in front of her, her lunch was sitting abandoned and untouched.

"Uh, Bella?" I asked

"Oh, hi Chris," she replied

"Bella do you want some help?" I reached forward and lifted up her calculus book, which she seemed to have pushed furthest from her person. At first, Bella shook her head no quickly, but then she sighed, gritted her teeth and nodded yes. "Okay, I don't want you to miss lunch, and since you're still grounded, we can do it after school if you'd like." I added trying not to laugh, as Bella gave me a warning look

"I think Charlie will allow visitation for a tutor." She grumbled and I was really struggling to not laugh. Grumbling or growling, in general, doesn't suit Bella at all so it's hard to take her serious like that. "Just come over."

I blinked a little not sure how to take that.

"So do you want me to come over after school today?" I asked clarifying what Bella had just mentioned.

She nodded and I gave a half-grin.

It was amazing, this time last year I was still nervous around Bella, I never would've felt right accepting an invite to her house, even if I was going over there to help her out with school. And amazing still, even in September, right before the whole birthday party fiasco, if Bella had been struggling in a subject then, I would've offered to help her out at school or even at our house, never at her own home.

I was so much more comfortable around Bella now, she was without a doubt a part of the family and I was no longer nervous around her nor did I particularly care if Edward had an opinion on the subject or not.

That was also a huge leap from last year, I was always looking to Edward for his approval or permission when anything concerned Bella, not anymore.

"Yes, Chris that's what I'm saying,"

"I can help you with history too." Now Bella shot another look only it was at Edward this time. My brother shrugged and gestured at me. "He mentioned you were a little worried about finals, he didn't mention the subjects. I guessed." I added, sticking my tongue out at Edward for shoving me under the bus like that.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Bella sighed, agreeing with me.

"Planning on mentioning to Chief Swan who my brother is?" I asked allowing for my half grin and Bella rolled her eyes

"Wasn't really planning on it." she replied and I nodded "but I'm assuming he'll be able to guess."

"You're the boss," I said glancing over at Marie's table.

The group of girls grinned back at me, with looks that made me really concerned, especially since they were giving Patrick, Steve, Paul, and Nick the same look.

When the guys looked over at the senior table at me for an explanation I shrugged, they were on their own for this, it was every man for himself in this situation.

Bella caught the look being passed between the three tables and grinned as she figured out what was going on.

I shot her a look that clearly said 'not a word' and it just made her grin wider as she turned her attention to her abandoned lunch.

In the Forks world, as I like to call it, my classmates were under the impression that I had turned fifteen while my family was in LA. I was still a year away from being able to drive legally and it was a pain in the butt to have to be driven around Forks when I have my own car and a motorcycle for transportation.

Luckily we worked out the driving arrangements for me tutoring Bella after school. Edward wasn't pleased with the fact he wasn't allowed in the Swan house until after seven, but I was getting in on a technicality.

Normally Edward has taken it upon himself to be Bella's personal chauffeur, but this morning Chief Swan had insisted that Bella take her truck, which was fine with me as I slid into the passenger seat eagerly.

As Bella started it up I tilted my head listening for the usual roar, it was certainly getting louder and I was positive I heard a knocking sound in there, granted I love Bella's truck to begin with and the noises it makes are just part of its character and charm, but that particular noise was not a good noise.

Bella looked over at me and narrowed her eyes

"Don't even think about it Chris," she warned

"Think about what?" I asked seriously

"Leave my truck alone it's fine."

The look on her face told me that while she was serious about her order for me to leave the truck alone, she wanted me to know that she wasn't mad, sometimes Bella tends to forget that I can profile her.

"But, but" I started to say grinning wide

"No buts." She replied as we pulled onto the main road heading for her house.

It was so strange to be in a car that barely made it over the fifty MPH mark, Bella does not speed anywhere. I seriously wonder if that's just her cautious nature or if Chief Swan's had a hand in that.

My short attention was taking over and I was at the point where I wanted to take over the wheel just to go a little faster. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was the fact that I knew going anywhere near sixty MPH was a surefire way to rattle Bella's poor truck apart.

When we finally reached the Swan house I slid out of the passenger seat and followed Bella inside. I've never been in the Swan house, I mean I've never had a reason to, anytime I have been over here is because of what was sitting outside, in other words, Bella's truck.

I seriously had to wonder who Bella thought changed her oil last year, or her brake pads, or even changed her wiper-blades. Chief Swan may have changed her winter tires back to regulars, but it was me with the rest of the truck's upkeep. Bella must have thought Chief Swan had done it all and I can only imagine who Chief Swan thought did it.

The house was small, at least compared to our house, but I liked it, it was cozy and homey. I dropped my backpack on the kitchen table as Bella went to the sink to get a glass of water.

"Can I get you anything?" Bella asked out of politeness, obviously forgetting momentarily who/what she was talking too. I grinned and shook my head.

"No, thanks though," I pulled out my notebook and my own calculus book "which did you want to start on first? Calc or history?"

Bella eyed both the book and her backpack with apprehension before closing her eyes and pointing at the calc book.

"Just get this over with." She sighed, sitting down next to me

"Do you guys get weekly tests? We do."

"Yes," Bella replied pulling a packet of papers held together by a paperclip out of her backpack and handed it to me.

"You actually haven't been doing bad," I replied looking over the packet "I mean the lowest grade you got on here was a seventy. So I mean I can show you some great tips for the exam, especially on the ones you missed." Bella nodded and we got to work.

I had no doubt that Bella was going to be fine on the exam when it came, she was just nervous about a lot of the material which made her question her ability to complete the practice tests and the weekly quizzes.

We were just wrapping up the last of my pointers when I heard a car pull into the drive. I knew the sound of the car, it was a Ford and it was a police cruiser, Chief Swan was home, it was about to get interesting here.

Bella saw me looking off in the distance at something she couldn't see, she stood up and looked out the window confirming my guess that it was her dad.

When Chief Swan walked in he didn't notice me at first, I think he simply went about his usual routine without paying much attention to the extra body in the room.

It wasn't until after he hung up his gun belt did he turn around and see me sitting at the kitchen table.

"Uh, Bella, what did I tell you about guests while you're grounded?"

"Dad, this isn't a guest exactly, this is Chris, he's helping me out with calculus." Bella tried to explain. Chief Swan raised an eyebrow, studying me "you know tutoring? So I can pass my exams? And graduate?" Bella continued until the word graduate and that seemed to clue Chief Swan in.

I stood up slowly and took the risk with my ice-cold hands, held out a hand to Chief Swan to shake. He nodded and accepted the gesture.

"Nice to see you, Chief Swan," I said softly

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked suspiciously again, as we dropped hands. In a town the size of a postage stamp, it's nearly impossible to not know EVERYONE, I've met Chief Swan a handful of times, the first time was him catching me riding my dirt-bike without a helmet. "You're one of Dr. Cullens kids, aren't you? You're the youngest one right?"

I nodded

"Yes sir, I'm Chris Cullen."

The look Chief Swan gave Bella was hilarious; it was a mix between surprise and demanding an explanation with his eyes.

"Chris is good with calculus and I've been having a hard time with it so he volunteered to tutor me. I figured the 'no visitor rule' didn't apply to non-Edward involved tutoring."

"No, of course not." Chief Swan said, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully "he's not here is he?"

Now Bella rolled her eyes

"No he's not, and for your information dad, Dr. Cullen is picking Chris up at five after his shift at the hospital, so no I'm not going over to the Cullen's house."

Chief Swan nodded; apparently, he wasn't going to argue anymore about the subject.

"Well, I appreciate you helping Bella out there Chris."

"Not a problem sir, it's the least I could do."

"Right," Chief Swan replied. He nodded again and headed into the living, seconds later I heard the sound of the Mariners game blaring on the TV.

"Well, that went swimmingly," I said with a grin and Bella sat back down next to me sighing.

"Thanks again Chris for helping me out." She said

"I meant what I said, it's no problem, I like helping people out when I can and seriously it gives me something to do this afternoon. Do you realize how difficult it is to get the big TV in my house during baseball, football, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, and hockey seasons? We're talking every season, for every sport Emmett's hogging the TV. I have to go online just to watch my Cricket and football matches."

Bella giggled a little

"Which reminds me Chris; I couldn't help but notice the looks that Marie was giving you." Bella started "is everything okay with you too?"

I made a face, Bella knew exactly what was going on, she was just dancing around the subject, but I could profile it. I had to admit though, Bella knowing was a lot better than my sisters knowing, safer too.

"The Freshman Sophomore dance," I replied, "Marie's planning on asking me, her and the other girls in our English class plus one girl whose new have all basically tagged us guys for the dance."

"And you're worried about dancing?" Bella asked obviously confused

I shook my head

"It's complicated, and it involves what is going to happen when this school year is over." At first, Bella was still confused, but then she put it together as her face went sympathetic,

"oh, Chris I'm sorry."

"Aw don't be, I'll figure it out. It's what my ability does, it's there to help me figure stuff out in the long run, I'm just hoping it doesn't disappoint."

Bella nodded

"So I'm assuming Alice doesn't know?"

"Oh I'm sure she knows, she just hasn't seen Marie asking me yet when she does I've already concluded I'm in trouble." I paused "anyways, I've got half an hour before Carlisle comes to get me, let's go over your history notes and see where you think you're having trouble."

As Bella flipped through her notebook, I thought over what had just happened, I had opened up to Bella, I mean more than just the usual friendly conversation.

I had actually just told her what was on my mind and what was concerning me if that wasn't proof that a trust between Bella and me had been established nothing would.


	3. Chapter 3

I bolted down the driveway as fast as I could, going right for the mailbox. We don't tend to get much mail; Carlisle has a postbox in town for most of the mail, but every once in a while we get something delivered to the home mailbox.

What I was waiting for was due to come today, a few days prior I had ordered a new laptop, the computer itself wasn't due to come for another few days and would be brought by UPS right to the house. However some of the accessories I had ordered were due today and I couldn't wait for them, a mouse, extra keyboard, a new set of headphones, and some awesome gaming software were due to arrive.

When I reached the end of the driveway I skidded to a stop looking around, the mail truck of course was nowhere to be seen. It's rare for them to have to deliver way out here so I could imagine they'd want it to be a quick stop.

Inside the mailbox was a load of junk mail, most of it addressed to Emmett which I was afraid to ask, no sign of my package which should have just fit in the mailbox. There was something inside that was of the right size, a package addressed to Edward from the University of Alaska.

I grinned wide and resisted the urge to open it and the letter attached. Of course, Edward had been accepted, there was no doubt in my mind of that and he would have made sure Bella was accepted as well, as well as being accepted to every college he had made her apply to, amongst the stack was more schools he had applied to.

Just as I was about to turn and run back to the house, I spotted the Volvo coming around the bend. Edward was on his way to Bella's house for his usual visit, Chief Swan was still not to happy about the arrangement, even though he had come up with the terms of Bella's grounding. I think he had hoped it would persuade Bella and Edward to take some time off from one another, which we all knew wasn't going to happen.

"Mail?" Edward called rolling down his window.

I grinned and nodded

"Yeah, and you got something, open it up will you?" I replied throwing the package at my brother.

He rolled his eyes and tore open the letter first, as slow as humanly or vampirely possible, he knew I was after the contents of the package and he was stalling just to be funny.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that, I have been accepted to the University of Alaska," Edward said matter-of-factly and I rolled my eyes at him.

"You say that like you doubted yourself." I replied sarcastically "how about the package now?"

Edward chuckled and finally turned his attention to the package, which was more important to me than his stupid acceptance letter. He didn't open it, instead, he just tossed it to me.

"Go for it."

I ripped the package open and pulled out the green sweatshirt with the University of Alaska Anchorage the campus that Edward and Bella had applied too, on it as well as the mascot for the school, the Seawolves. The application paperwork for most of the schools asked for the interested student to mark down the size sweatshirt they would prefer if they were in fact accepted. Promising me that I would get all of his university advertisements, Edward had marked the size as a small, for me.

I pulled the sweatshirt on over my tee-shirt and put the gray hat with the same symbol on the hat, on. It was now Edward's turn to roll his eyes.

"Thanks, Edward," I said with a grin

"Happy now?"

"For now, where else did you apply?"

Edward handed me back the pile of mail

"Look for yourself." He replied, returning my grin as he drove off.

I was just about to run back when I heard a car on the road, I paused, wondering if Edward had actually forgotten something, probably a first. But instead, I saw the Mercedes coming up the road. Carlisle slowed to a stop and looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Chris, do I want to know?"

"Just checking the mail," I answered truthfully.

Carlisle looked me over spotting my attire, he began to chuckle and shook his head, amused.

"Edward received his acceptance letter I take it."

"It's a possibility." I replied grinning, "how was your shift?"

"Relatively slow." Carlisle paused "hop in Chris, I need your opinion on something."

I darted to the other side of the Mercedes and climbed in the passenger side. Carlisle started the car up again and we headed down our driveway slowly

"Everything okay?" I asked and Carlisle sighed

"In my bag Chris, there's a copy of the Seattle Times, take it out will you?"

"Sure," I reached into his bag and lifted the thick newspaper out. Carlisle gets newspapers from all over the world delivered to his post office box and to the hospital. Forks is so small it doesn't even have its own newspaper, it shares the news with some of the surrounding towns and together they correlate into a newspaper, sort of.

The headlines for this particular issue made me realize immediately why Carlisle had me read it:

Death Toll On The Rise,

Police Fear Gang Activity.

I read the article in a matter of seconds and stared at Carlisle when I was finished. It was amazing the change in attitude in just a few days. The police had obviously been avoiding the issue at hand, apparently, all the pushing by Fox news had paid off.

"I'm assuming you heard this story on the news?" Carlisle asked as we neared the garage.

"Jasper was watching the news the other day, Fox was the only one to be covering it. I may think they're idiots and all about covering the latest story over the story itself, but they knew something wasn't right before the cops were even ready to admit it."

"What do you think?" I chuckled and Carlisle raised an eyebrow grinning a little "what did I say?"

"Nothing, it's just Jasper asked me the same thing. I honestly don't know what to think about this, something doesn't feel right about it, but I'm not entirely sure." I paused and looked at my father "you don't believe its gangs do you?"

Carlisle shook his head. He parked the Mercedes next to Esme's Audi and we both headed inside through the kitchen. Everyone seemed to be scattered because no one seemed to notice our entrance. I could hear the TV broadcasting a hockey game and Emmett cheering at it. Alice and Rosalie had gone off hunting, Jasper I was assuming was in the library, and Esme was in her office.

I put the mail on the counter and followed Carlisle through the house towards Esme's office.

"No, I do not think its gang-related. I believe Seattle is dealing with something that is completely out of normalcy and certainly out of the police department's league." The look on Carlisle's face told me everything I needed to know as I profiled him.

"Our kind?!" I exclaimed "oh hell…"

"Chris, language." Carlisle reminded and sighed, I had a feeling I had just voiced his own opinion on the matter. "It's just a theory, of course, it could very well be gang-related as the papers are reporting."

"We should be on alert though. If someone is hunting this close to us it's not going to be pretty. And whoever it is, they're not careful and that's not good either. This is drawing the wrong kind of attention and it's only a matter of time before it gets further out of hand."

"Hence why I brought this back to your attention, I've already spoken with Jasper, we will just have to rely on the news for more information."

"And if it comes to it, we might have to go to Seattle, to at least investigate." I pointed out and Carlisle sighed

"I just hope it does not come to that. Because it may start out as a simple investigation, but it might very well turn violent."

"War?" I asked and Carlisle looked at me quickly, he had seen that as perhaps the only alternative, but was hoping it would never come to that. "Clearly this is not the work of just one idiot, I can't tell how many are involved, but there is no way this is all being done by a single individual. We go to Seattle to investigate, find the group of idiots or the pair, whatever, it's not going to be a peaceful conference."

Carlisle nodded

"I know, I just wish it could go another way."

"I do too Carlisle, hopefully, it won't have to come to us going to Seattle, maybe it is just gang-related, a rise in homicides as it gets closer to summer it makes sense."

Carlisle patted my head and went down the hall to Esme's office. I sighed and headed upstairs to my room. I was going to do what I should've done when I first heard about this situation; I was going to do some research, see what the other news organizations knew about what was going on. 

* * *

The other guys were foolishly trying to figure out how to escape the dance. I gave up early on trying to fight Marie and the other girls, pretty soon the other guys would give up too.

"What if we like, plan a movie for that night, if we plan it now we can convince the girls to go to a movie instead of the dance." Nick brought up and I snorted back a laugh "what, come on Chris it's a good idea."

"Let's see, Dance Vs. Movie" I replied using my hands to mimic a scale "me thinketh the dance is going to win." I grinned wide "don't forget I have two older sisters, I know how girls think, at least on that front."

The guys groaned as they realized I was right. For a second they went back to eating, obviously deep in thought.

"Anyone have a birthday coming up?" Paul asked randomly, we all looked at each other for a second.

"Mine's next month." Steve spoke up "the sixth."

"What are you thinking Paul?" Patrick asked

"Steve would you're parents object to having a birthday party, say on the eighth?" Paul asked with a grin and I saw right away where he was going with his latest scheme.

"A birthday party?" Steve repeated "why would I-…Oh, I get it." he grinned wide and took a huge bite of his cheeseburger "that might work. Are we inviting the girls?"

"That's the idea stupid." Paul returned the grin "we get a party with tons of food and no dancing!"

I was about to argue that idea too but kept my mouth shut, it was just hilarious, to begin with, and I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with my idea of just giving in.

Instead, I looked over at the senior table, I felt a pit in my stomach and a twitch on the back of my neck, usually a sign that something was about to happen. My gaze fell on Alice as her face went blank, she was having a vision.

Bella saw it too as she picked up a conversation with Angela, obviously distracting her from Alice's odd behavior.

When Alice's vision finished, she looked at Edward first as he saw her vision as well. Then she looked over at me, allowing me to read her body language. Whatever Alice had seen it had unnerved her and it involved Bella somehow.

"Chris what about your place? Do you think we could have a party at your place?" Paul asked calling me back to the conversation.

I blinked and shook my head for a second gathering my thoughts.

"Come again?" I asked even though I had heard him perfectly fine.

"Would your folks be okay with us having a party?"

"Okay, first off, you guys realize that the girls are never going to let any of us away from the school dance. Secondly, my parents are going to have enough to deal with as far as the graduation party my sister is planning. My sister Alice gets scary…no that's not even the right word, she gets bloody terrifying when it comes to parties and stuff, so I don't think my parents will be mentally ready to deal with us throwing a party followed very quickly by my sister's insanity."

The guys groaned at that and went back to eating, I knew this was not the last conversation we would have regarding the dance. To be honest I was a little surprised Paul had asked about having the party at my house.

* * *

As I was walking to the parking lot, Marie stopped me. I had been watching her all day, knowing she was preparing herself to ask me to the dance. I could see it in her body language how nervous she was, even if it was just me she was still a little nervous, she apparently wanted to ask me a certain way and was trying to ask it right. I had a feeling that Angela and some of our friends had been helping and coaching her today.

"Chris," she called running up to me. Her mum is the librarian for the high school, so Marie has taken to staying after and just riding home with her.

"Hey Marie," I replied, "how do you think you did on the Spanish test?"

"Eh," she answered shrugging

"Eh? Is that a: eh, it was good or eh: I hate Spanish?" I asked grinning and after a second or two, she returned the grin.

"Um, I was wondering, you know the dance?" I nodded letting her speak "well, would you…I mean did you…" she was faltering I could see it, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Angela, heading towards Ben's car, Marie looked over at her desperately and Angela gave her a smile and a wave. This gesture seemed to be the push that Marie needed "would you go to the dance with me?"

The dance was inevitable, I had already come to that conclusion, it was only a matter of time before the other guys figured it out too, and besides, I couldn't say no to Marie like that, no matter what.

"Of course I'll go with you, it will be a great honor M'lady," I replied grinning.

Marie giggled a bit

"Okay, thank you, Chris, see you tomorrow?"

"Will do, have a good night Marie!"

"You too Chris," and with that Marie ran back into the school. I rolled my eyes chuckling a bit as I headed towards the Volvo.

Alice kind of intercepted me as I was going that way. She looked distracted and I knew it had something to do with her vision.

"So, you going to tell me or do I have to guess?" I asked as Alice wrapped her arm around my shoulder holding me close.

"I'll explain when we get home," she replied nodding at Bella so indiscreetly there was no way Bella would've noticed.

"That sounds ominous," I guessed and Alice nodded. "wonderful, just promise me there's no leaving the state in our near future."

"No Chris, I promise."

"Works for me."

We had just reached the Volvo, Edward and Bella weren't far behind us, and Edward for some reason was talking to Mike Newton. I was fully prepared to ignore the conversation, until the word car came up, a word that always catches my attention.

"But I just replaced the battery in the car," Mike was saying

"Perhaps it's the cables?" Edward suggested and I rolled my eyes

"Maybe, I really don't know anything about cars. I need to have someone look at it, but I can't afford to take it to Dowlings."

Now I made a gagging noise, Dowlings is the only advertised mechanics shop in the town and he uses that to his full advantage. He charges ridiculous prices and usually only fixes the problem long enough for it to become a problem again.

If Rosalie and I could we would open our garage up to the general public to do repairs for half the price Dowlings is charging, but it's a little too weird and suspicious on our part, but I would rather junk my Mustang than bring it to Dowlings to be repaired, that's how bad he is and how much I do not trust him.

"I know a few things…I could take a look if you'd like," Edward said and I nearly burst out laughing. "Just let me drop Alice, Bella, and Chris off at home."

"Er… thanks," Mike was certainly taken aback by that offer, as was Bella and Alice, me I was just dumbfounded by Edward thinking he could be a proper mechanic. "But I have to get to work. Maybe some other time."

Probably a good thing Mike. You don't want Edward messing around under the bonnet of your car, trust me. I thought, knowing full well Edward heard me, he shot me a glare and I grinned back at him

"Absolutely," Edward replied still glaring at me

"See ya." Mike said getting into his car and driving off in disbelief at what had just occurred.

"What was that about?" Bella muttered as she climbed into the passenger seat. Alice and I exchanged a look and grinned at each other

"Just being helpful," Edward said.

Now I had to snort back a laugh, this was absolutely the most hilarious thing that had happened in weeks. I was picturing the ad for a new movie coming out next month from PIXAR, the computer-animated company with Disney.

The movie was called Cars and it actually looked pretty funny and was something I was willing to bet Rosalie would want to see. But I was picturing Edward under the hood of one of the movie cars and the poor car's pained and embarrassed eyes.

I burst out laughing again and this time the glare game through the rearview mirror as he saw what I just imagined.

"Edward, despite what you may think you're about as much of a mechanic as Emmett is a Grand Chess Master." I said around my chuckles, "need I remind you about the spark plug incident of '92?" I added smartly. Edward's glare intensified, and Alice spoke up in my defense.

"Chris is right though, you're really not that good a mechanic, Edward. Maybe you should have Rosalie and Chris take a look at it tonight, just so you look good if Mike decides to let you help, you know. Not that it wouldn't be fun to watch his face if Rosalie AND Chris show up to help. But since Rosalie is supposed to be across the country attending college, I guess that's not the best idea. Too bad. Though I suppose for Mike's car, you'll do. It's only within the finer tuning of a good Italian sports car you're out of your depth."

"And '68 mustangs, and 2003 Audi A6's, and 2005 Jeep Wrangler's, and-" I began before Alice clamped a hand over my mouth. I was listing all the cars we own, further proof that Edward is no mechanic and is not allowed near ANY of our cars minus of course his own. He wants to kill the Volvo that's his problem.

"Speaking of Italy and sports cars that I stole there, you still owe me a yellow Porsche. I don't know if I want to wait for Christmas…" Alice started to say

"I don't know if I CAN wait for you to buy it for her for Christmas," I exclaimed, around Alice's hand. I had heard all about this Porsche that Alice had stolen in Italy and I was dying to see it for myself and to make it better, Edward had promised to buy her one for Christmas. My biggest issue was Christmas was so far away.

Alice rolled her eyes and whapped the brim of my hat. I grinned and pulled out my headphones. Bella had been quiet for the most part and was giving Edward some pretty intense looks upfront. She obviously knew Alice had seen something and for some reason or another Edward was refusing to share with her.

When we finally reached our driveway, Alice and I slid out and waved bye to Edward and Bella, Edward managed a see you later and a nod before he sped off down the street.

Alice looked at me and sighed.

"Come on Chris, I'll explain what's going on." She paused as we started down the driveway for the house "the first thing you need to know is we are not moving."

"Good to know and that's certainly a good place to start."

"Edward is taking Bella to Florida for a few days to visit her mother."

"Florida…the SUNshine state?!" I exclaimed "yeah that's a good idea right there. Why are they going to Florida? I mean is it really just to visit Bella's mum?"

Alice shook her head

"No, of course, there's more." Alice sighed "Edward wants Bella as far away from Forks as possible this weekend. In my vision, I saw Victoria coming very close to town."

"Victoria, the tracker's mate? Oh, bloody hell." I paused "we're going to fight her arent we?"

"If it comes to that, our main goal has to be to drive her back."

I nodded,

"Sounds like a plan to me. I'm in for some tracking."


	4. Chapter 4

Emmett and I brought up the rear of the group as we hiked to the spot Alice had seen Victoria make her appearance. It took me a second or two to realize just how close to the boundary line we were.

In fact, I would be entirely surprised if the wolves didn't know we were there. I did have to wonder if the wolves knew someone else was coming, someone who wouldn't obey the treaty line.

"This is the spot then Alice?" Carlisle asked and Alice closed her eyes for a moment just to be sure.

She nodded and slowly opened her eyes

"Yes, right over that tree line."

I looked to where my sister was pointing and I took a deep breath, before scaling the closest tree. I scanned the forest looking for Victoria's distinctive red hair, I didn't see it, but a piercing scent attacked my nose and I had to gag for a second as it overwhelmed my other senses.

The wolves were close; they were also nearing the line waiting for the intrusion. I couldn't be sure if they suspected anything and if they did, would we be able to work together like this? We all had the same goals here, protect the town, protect the humans, protect Bella and her father.

Down below me, I saw Alice go stiff, I quickly jumped down from my branch and landed next to my sister.

"Alice?" Jasper called,

"She's coming." Alice replied, "to your left!"

Instinctively we all looked to our left and I saw the red hair. Bingo, showtime! I thought and took off in her direction.

It was amazing how she moved; she stayed right on the boundary line as if it was drawn out on a map for her as if she was taunting not only us but the wolves as well. I could feel Jasper and Emmett right behind me.

I leaped over a down tree and raced after her trying my best to stay on our side of the line. It wasn't easy, she moved within inches of crossing it and then when I got within an arms reach of her, she skipped to the other side of the line, but not before darting back at me and sidestepping me so I nearly tripped as I went to grab her. That was the only time I let her get ahead of my profile, I knew I had to focus better.

Jasper came up behind me and tried to tackle her, but I quickly profiled her moving deeper into the woods over the line. It was tough to read her in all reality, her motions were jumbled and unfocused, as soon as she decided on one course of action she would change it in a split second forcing my profile to reassemble the chess pieces, which thankfully is what my ability is best at.

"Jaz, she's going to them, back off a bit and circle around, we gotta let the wolves have a shot!" I called and Jasper nodded.

Together we stayed on the line, following her as she moved deeper and deeper into wolf territory. The ground shook as the pack thundered towards the line chasing her and just as one of them nearly had her in his teeth, she skipped over the line again right in front of me.

I swear she turned and looked at me, her eyes gleaming and her mouth turned in a sadistic smile. She WAS taunting us, all of us, she gave me a little wave with just her fingers and sped up, I'm fast, but I couldn't catch her, I hate to admit it, but she was much faster than me, and trust me that's a scary thought. She may be faster than me, but there was no way hell I was going to let her out-profile me.

We were nearing the river now. The path we were running down drops off at the edge of the cliff and drops into the shallow part of the river below, no more than five feet from the shallowest part, the river deepens. The deeper part of the river is wolf territory, it's where our line ends and their line resumes.

Victoria didn't even hesitate as she jumped off the edge. I tried to calculate where the edge really was and nearly went over myself as Jasper reached out and grabbed hold of my sweatshirt and pulling me to a stop.

The rest of the family came running up to us and also skidded to a stop, but Emmett kept going, he didn't stop as he neared the edge and followed Victoria over, jumping down into the shallow part of the river.

"Em!" I shouted, "watch the line!"

"She's going into their territory again," Carlisle spoke up frantically "Emmett quick, get out of there, do not go any further!"

I bolted right to the edge, Emmett was still on our side of the treaty line, he was in the clear, but I could see movement in the woods coming quickly, the wolves.

One of them stepped over their line and moved slowly towards Emmett, growling and showing it's razor-sharp canines.

Emmett, of course, being Emmett growled right back, he knew we had the right to be where we were, we had not crossed their line, it was not wolf territory yet.

The wolf wouldn't move out of Emmett's way, it blocked him each time my brother moved, it was going to put Emmett in his place no matter what, even if it meant the other vampire was to getaway.

I could see the flash of red hair as Victoria disappeared again, Em could have caught her, he and the wolf together could have easily taken her down and ended this whole thing right then and there. The more important issue at hand apparently was treaty line and who had crossed over it first.

I could feel the wolf's emotions, it was PISSED, and very sure that Emmett was breaking the treaty, he had crossed the line, which he hadn't. I had studied that line religiously. I made sure early on in this life I knew where in Forks I was allowed to go and where I couldn't. If I wasn't allowed to go to First Beach, I was sure going to know where else I couldn't go without crossing into Quileute land, I knew which markers made it our side and which made it theirs.

Suddenly the rest of the pack joined the grey wolf. Rosalie jumped down to be with Emmett, trying to protect him.

I didn't think twice before joining them, I was not about to let my brother and sister be outnumbered like that.

The atmosphere was so tense I felt overwhelmed by it, but the wolves seemed surprised by me and backed off a bit, not once taking their eyes off of Emmett.

"We're not in their territory," I hissed at Em and Rose, they knew that too and the wolf in front of us seemed to growl a bit more when I said that, his eyes narrowing at me. "The line is over there," I added making sure the wolf heard me as I pointed to the invisible line.

The wolf closest to me growled again, he obviously didn't care what I thought, he knew where the line was, what did I know, not only was I stupid little kid, but I was a stupid little bloodsucker. He snapped his jaw at me, making sure that I saw his oversized canines.

I wanted to growl my response; instead, I simply stared into his eyes, a staredown with a werewolf, probably not my best idea. The wolf snapped his jaw at me and made a move to lunge, it was trying to scare me away and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't attack me. I hadn't given them a reason too, it was possible that they could argue that Emmett had crossed over the line; me on the other hand, I was nowhere near it.

When I didn't even flinch and he looked at me in surprise, obviously trying to hide it. Instead, he growled again, I could see his fur along his back bristling, he wanted me to be terrified of him and was offended that I wasn't. I was pretty sure he was going to keep trying to find a way to scare me into submission.

Emmett and Rosalie both thought I was in danger and moved to shield me. Rosalie pulled me in between her and Em, both trying to keep me out of sight of the wolf.

"Please, we mean no harm," Carlisle called from the cliff; I looked to see who he was speaking too. It was one of the larger wolves, who gave off an aura of leadership and authority. Must have been the alpha, Sean…Steve, Sam I think Bella said his name was.

Sam growled his response and I saw Carlisle stiffen for just a second, he was trying to keep his voice calm and reassuring, even so, I noticed him move ever so slightly in front of Esme, protecting her, as Jasper did the same for Alice.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, focusing my emotions. I had never thought of trying my ability with animals, on the wolves. After all, this was the first time I have seen them in person, after hearing the mixed stories from Carlisle, Rosalie, Edward, Em, and Esme and researching the rest on my own, I've always been curious about our shape-shifting Indian neighbors and anxious to find out more about them.

It never occurred to me that wolves who were also human might be affected by my ability. I was pretty sure it wouldn't work, I knew I had to try, I had to get things calmed down between the wolves and us before someone made the wrong move. It was bad enough that Victoria got away after all that, but I certainly did not want to be involved in a fight with a pack of werewolves.

The last thing we needed was to be fighting the wolves right now. It would devastate Bella if something happened to one of them. Then again, it might not be a massacre on their side, I couldn't be 100% sure, since they weren't exactly standing still long enough for me to count them, but I think they outnumbered us, by at least two.

I concentrated as hard as I could on calming the wolves and to my surprise, it actually worked. I could see the wolves starting to calm down and back off a bit. They had no idea why this was happening to them and I could tell they didn't like it, but I was so focused I wasn't giving them an alternative, they were going to back off and calm down whether they liked it or not.

I was pushing my ability to the max, I've never used it on these kinds of numbers before, I'm used to a deer or two, maybe a single predator, but never an entire pack of animals. I was still not sure how much control I really had in this situation, regardless of what stood in front of us, these were not originally animals in that sense, they were human beings…sorta.

"It's the red-haired one we need to be concerned with!" I said, trying not to break my concentration

"She is dangerous to not only the town but to you as well. She is not of our family, she will not respect the boundaries that were set in place with your ancestors" Carlisle explained, "she is out for vengeance against Bella Swan and will hunt human prey when it suits her. As you saw she has no qualms about crossing into your territory at will. And she will pose a danger to the reservation if she is not stopped, she wants revenge that is her one motive and anyone in her way is in danger."

With me keeping the wolves calm, Em realized that the wolf had backed away from him and wasn't focused on gnawing his leg off. He took Rosalie's hand and she pulled me even closer to her as we slowly made our way back up to the cliff with the family. I half expected the wolf to break out of my control and snap at our heels, but he did not move.

As soon as I was back on the cliff, I stood next to Carlisle. Sam looked my way as I did so and narrowed his eyes a bit, studying me.

"You guys run patrols on the boundary line, making sure we do not cross, right?" I wasn't really expecting an answer so I was a bit surprised when Sam nodded ever so slightly. "Well, we won't cross over. In the years since that treaty was forged, no Cullen has ever broken it, right? We have no reason too, she does. Just remember her scent when you're out doing patrols." I said

"She will be back," Jasper explained, still blocking Alice from the wolves, Alice, however, was peeking around Jasper watching the wolves closely.

"Like it or not" I started, "we're going to have to work together somehow. She's a danger to all of us. It's no accident she went over the line, she's testing the boundaries and testing you guys as well as us. She's trying to figure out what she's up against and if we can't come to some kind of truce she's going to keep testing the flaws in the system until she can break it down entirely. She may have thought we were working together today, now she's certain we are not, and what just happened proved at least one other thing to her today, that we're willing to stop chasing her to fight each other." I paused as Carlisle continued where I left off.

"Our goal here is not to order you about, but you deserved to know what we're up against. Whether we actually work together or not, she's your enemy too, we have a common enemy here!"

Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder and nodded at Sam, but the look on Sam's face told it all. They didn't want our help, we were no better than Victoria in their eyes and our promise and vows were not about to change that attitude.

Frankly I didn't care if they didn't trust us, it would make things a lot more difficult, but as long as the end result was the same, Bella, Chief Swan, and the rest of the humans in and around Forks had to be protected, that's what the wolves were doing and that's what we were doing.

"She's gone for now, but my son is correct she will be back. We all must be prepared for that. I am sorry that things reached this point; it was truly not our intention to encroach onto Quileute land-."

"Which we didn't," I muttered and Esme took my hand and gave it a squeeze, silently telling me not to instigate.

Carlisle's hand did not leave my shoulder, nor did Esme let go of my hand as we turned away from the wolves and headed back through the woods towards home. I never know how far of a reach my ability has so I tried to keep focused on calm emotions until we were far enough away from the boundary line.

"We could've had her!" Emmett growled slamming his fist into his hand "she was right there if that mangy mutt hadn't gotten in my way I would-"

"Kept chasing her onto their land?" I interrupted as we approached the house. Emmett was buggard, that is to say, bloody mad, and who could blame him, he's not used to losing like this and I had to agree with him, I certainly counted this as a loss in my book.

But Emmett wasn't looking at the bigger picture, if he had kept going and actually went onto Quileute land, they would have no qualms tearing him to shreds. Hell the wolf that had blocked him was willing to shred him just for going near the line.

Emmett growled his response and then sighed as he realized I was right, not that I wanted to be this time.

"It certainly could have gone better," Carlisle said as we headed into the house, despite my clothes being caked in dried mud, Esme didn't say one word to me as I collapsed on the couch.

"But it also could have gone worse," Jasper added he was right; there were definitely worse case scenarios that had been playing in my mind repeatedly.

"I think next time we have a run-in with the wolves, Edward needs to be with us. I can only get so much from their emotions and believe it or not profiling them isn't easy. I think this thing would've gone a lot smoother if Edward could tell us their thoughts and we could respond properly. I probably instigated more than I helped."

"Nonsense Chris, you got them calmed down quickly and quietly. Emotions were running high and you were able to combat that well." Jasper said sitting down next to me

"Could you feel their emotions?" I asked

Jasper's gift has always been geared towards humans and vampires, it does not work on animals. My ability, on the other hand, we've never tried testing it on humans or vampires, I've only focused on animals, so we've never concluded if my ability is a near copy to Jasper's only extended.

But since the wolves are human for the most part, it made me curious if Jasper could sense their emotions.

"Actually I could somewhat, there was a lot of anger and frustration Chris. I felt the calm when you began focusing on that and the anger began to fade, the frustration, however, was still very strong. They knew something was happening to them, but couldn't figure it out and it was frustrating them that they could not combat it."

"I guess that's something." I replied running my hand through my hair "but the wolves aren't the only ones frustrated. Emmett is right we should've had her, or at least the wolves could've had her. Now she's still out there, Edward can't keep Bella away forever, they have to come back eventually. What then, how do we keep Bella, Chief Swan, and the rest of Forks safe from Victoria?" I asked looking at each one of my family in turn before looking at Carlisle.

"We will handle it as we always do," Carlisle said gently but firmly. "Alice will keep her visions open to Victoria's moves, you were able to profile her today am I correct?" I nodded "use your profile and your profile of those around you and we will work together as a family to do what we have to do."

I nodded again and sighed

"Okay."

"Don't worry Chris," Alice spoke up kissing the top of my head "we'll get her."

"Come on Chris," Em said joining me on the couch, he handed me one of the four controllers for the XBOX, he handed one other to Jasper and took one for himself "I want to kill something, even if it has to be something in a video game." I sighed again and exchanged a look with Jasper, he grinned and shrugged and turned his controller on.

"Yeah, we'll see about that Em!" Jasper said, nudging my shoulder, I returned the grin and turned my controller on.

"You guys are going down," I added


	5. Chapter 5

I heard the creak of the stairs before even Chap did, instinctively I looked towards the doorway as I caught the scent of both of my sisters. I groaned, no good could come of this. after the XBOX match, Jasper and Emmett decided to go hunting, I wasn't really in the mood to join them so instead I retreated to my room to watch a movie. Apparently being alone was not an option.

Carefully I slipped Chap back into his cage and silently promised him double treats later as I latched his cage.

The double footsteps were coming closer to my room and I had a feeling I knew what it was about, neither one of my sisters have said anything about the upcoming freshman/ sophomore dance which made me nervous and suspicious.

I made my way over to my window and pushed it open, I could jump down from my room easily, or even scale the closest tree down and be in the garage in seconds. By the time they figured out my plan, I could have my bike running and be gone.

Esme wouldn't question it. After the near fight with the wolves her and Carlisle decided to take some time together, they had gone to Port Angeles to see a movie, she was the only other person in the family I would have to worry about over my sisters.

I took a deep breath and jumped out of the window, grabbing hold of the thickest branch before sliding down the tree trunk. I grinned triumphantly and bolted to the garage.

Bella's motorcycle was parked next to mine, so I carefully wheeled my own out away from it and around Rosalie's beemer.

I had just turned the key and kicked up the stand when the door from the kitchen into the garage swung open, Alice was standing in the doorway a look on her face that clearly said, 'do not mess with me'.

It has always amazed me how scary Alice can get, I mean she's a few inches shorter than me, but she's got this look that is just scary, I mean we're talking Wicked Witch Miss Gulch scary (I have no problem admitting that both those characters scared the bloody hell out of me as a kid…come to think of it, those bloody munchkins did too, twelve years old or not that movie, in general, freaked me out.) anyways, Alice could give them a run for their money, so her standing in the doorway glaring at me and tapping her foot on the concrete stairs, made me instantly regret not escaping sooner.

"Christian, was there something you decided not to tell Rose and me?" she asked kind of menacingly

"uh, not that I can remember," I replied trying to look as innocent as possible, we both knew I wasn't fooling anyone.

"So did Marie ask you to the dance or not?"

"Why ask something when you already know the answer," I asked shutting my bike down, I clearly wasn't going anywhere now.

Now Alice giggled happily clapping her hands together and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her, it was a little frightening her sudden change in attitude.

"Yay!" she exclaimed she turned and looked back into the house as I wheeled my bike back to its port, "Rose she asked him! I told you she would!"

"Did he say yes? That would be the bigger issue, it's Chris after all." Rose asked poking her head into the garage around Alice. "he might say no just to spite us."

"Hey!" I growled

"Of course he did, its Marie, he wouldn't hurt her like that."

"Um, last time I checked, I'm present for this conversation." Both girls gave me a look and I sighed "or not."

"Chris, get your coat," Rosalie ordered

"Um, why?"

"We're going to Portland." Alice chimed in

I blinked

"Port…land?" I didn't even know why I was bothering to ask, I knew the answer, but I felt need to express my displeasures with the idea, whatever way I could.

"You need a new outfit for the dance" Alice explained, "do you know what Marie is wearing?"

I shrugged

"Oh brother. And no I have no idea what Marie is wearing, I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess a dress?"

Now, Alice and Rosalie both glared at me as if I had just sworn and I shrugged again, I'm sorry Marie didn't feel the need to share her anticipated wardrobe.

"Easy enough to fix," Rosalie replied smiling at Alice she reached into the kitchen where we keep the portable house phone.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?" I asked. I walked over to my sisters and Alice covered my mouth with her hand.

"Hi, Mrs. Burke?" Rosalie started and I groaned around Alice's hand "Esme Cullen, how are you?"

"Really, Rose is going to impersonate mum now? This is mature, what great influences you guys are." I mumbled as Alice giggled holding me closer to keep her hand on my mouth.

"Very well yes thank you, Mrs. Burke." Rose paused "oh it is so adorable, I'm so happy Marie asked him, Chris is so shy."

"Laidback, I'm laid back!" I said around Alice's hand "there's a difference."

"Chris and I were just about to go purchase a new suit for him, and I thought it be a wonderful idea to check with you to see what kind of dress Marie had picked out?" there was another pause and I just rolled my eyes, I was clearly going to come out on the losing end of this argument. "Oh that will look so adorable on her, that also gives us an idea for the flowers. Well, it was nice chatting with you, oh yes we certainly should think about that. You too, bye, bye."

I crossed my arms and looked at Rose expectantly as she hung up the phone. She continued to ignore my glares as she put the phone back on the receiver, before turning to Alice.

"Well?"

"I have details and Mrs. Burke wants to set up something to talk to Esme, Carlisle and the other parents about renting a limo for the kids."

"A limo!?" I exclaimed, "come on it's a freshman dance, not prom, who the heck needs a limo to bring them to the high school dance."

"Hush," Alice replied, "what about the dress?"

"Oh, Marie is going to look so cute, apparently the girls in Chris' class that are involved in this group date all went to Port Angeles with their moms and picked out their dresses together. Marie's is a midnight blue, but she doesn't want Chris to know what it looks like, but I think we can work with that. There's a wonderful shop in downtown Portland, privately owned, its been in business since the 1920s"

"Oh good, so I can go to the dance looking like a reject from an old bootlegger film?" Rosalie reached over and flicked my ear "ow."

"We should do the alterations ourselves, that way we have total control," Rosalie said looking at Alice

"You do realize it be better to just rent a tux, considering it be a helluva lot cheaper," I muttered, now Alice flicked my ear in reply

"Hush," she repeated. "I love the idea of the limo, oo, maybe we can get Edward to let them use his Aston Martin, I'm sure we can get one of the boys to act as a chauffeur and drive them."

I suddenly had the image of one of my brothers dressed in a chauffeur uniform driving a limo, in my head and I burst out laughing.

Both my sisters gave me a funny look and I shook my head, no need to explain what I had just pictured, it was one thing to imagine it, but they actually might make it happen and whichever brother was forced to do it, would blame me.

"Come on let's go before it gets any later!" Rosalie exclaimed grabbing my arm and dragging me back into the garage.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When my phone started to ring as we were walking towards the store, I answered it quickly, knowing it was Carlisle.

Rose reached for the phone to grab it from my hands, but I anticipated her move and darted just out of her reach.

"Dad!" I hissed as I continued to dart back and forth to avoid Rosalie's grappling for the phone "come save me!"

There was a long pause as Carlisle tried to figure out what I was either up too or what I was involved in.

"Chris, er, I was just calling to see what you guys were up too, now I'm afraid to ask."

"Your daughters have kidnapped me and taken me across state lines, there has got to be some kind of retribution for this!"

Now Carlisle started laughing on the other end, I could hear Esme in the background and she was laughing too.

"And, erm why have your sisters kidnapped you? Actually better question, how did they kidnap you, I thought you were going with Emmett and Jasper hunting?"

"Yeah, I was, but I decided to stay home and watch a movie, now I'm seriously regretting that decision."

"I see." Carlisle paused, he was trying to sound as serious as possible, but was really failing "and where may I ask are they holding you?"

"We're in Oregon! They took me to Portland!"

"Portland? What's in Portland?"

"Something to help the fashionably challenged, we're doing charity work!" Alice exclaimed finally grabbing the phone out of my hand, I was no match for a psychic, despite my best attempts.

"Hey, I'm right here you know! And for the last time I am not fashionably challenged, I know what I like, it just doesn't match your insanity." I replied reaching for the phone, Alice expertly and gracefully sidestepped me.

"Marie asked Christian to the Freshman Sophomore dance!" she giggled and I swear I heard Carlisle sigh, I could picture Carlisle rubbing his temple. "isn't it cute daddy?"

Now I rolled my eyes.

"Brown noser," I muttered grinning.

Carlisle and Esme have never really said it out loud at least, but both always get this look in their eyes whenever one of us calls them mum and dad. Granted I do it pretty much all the time but with me, it's more of instinct and due to my physical age. Rose does it on occasion, same with Emmett and Edward, Jasper rarely if ever does, but Alice is an all the timer, especially with Carlisle.

When Alice and Jasper joined the family, Rose was more apt to call Esme mum than Carlisle dad, she was still in an unforgiving set with him, Alice, on the other hand, had no problem calling Carlisle dad, she went into calling him dad, and especially daddy much more quickly.

Not being able to remember her real dad at all and wanting everything that came with a family, Alice wanted the chance to have a mum and a dad.

But any of us calling them mum and dad reaffirms the fact that we are a family, it gives both Carlisle and Esme the reminder they occasionally need that we are their children and we love them like our parents.

"Alice put your brother back on the phone for a moment." Esme entered the conversation, reluctantly Alice handed me the phone and I winced at it "Christian, why didn't you tell us Marie asked you to the dance!"

"Um, er, it didn't seem relevant at the time?" I replied, "and actually it still isn't."

"Nice try mister," Esme gently scolded "you are not skipping out on this dance. Oh Chris your first dance, this is going to be so exciting."

"Great mum, encourage Alice and Rose."

To answer me, Rose flicked my ear, before she grabbed the phone from my hand and moved closer to the store.

"I hope you don't mind Esme, I called Mrs. Burke and asked her what Marie's dress looked like. I told her we were taking Chris to purchase a new suit and wanted to coordinate." Rose explained

"And impersonated you to get the information!" I exclaimed before Alice could cover my mouth, Rose laughed what I had just said off a bit and after a short pause, Esme and Carlisle laughed as well.

"I hope you aren't mad mom, I wasn't intentionally being deceitful, I thought it made more sense for Chris' mom to be calling Mrs. Burke rather than his sister."

"Rose what did you tell her exactly?" Esme asked

"Just what I said, I asked her about Marie's dress, apparently this is a group effort as the girls in Chris' English class have collaborated for the dance. Mrs. Burke also brought up the idea of renting a limo for the kids."

"Oh if that's all, no Rose I'm not mad. I'm a little disappointed that you are taking Chris shopping without me."

"See, make mum feel bad nice job." I grinned smugly, this time Alice flicked my ear, I really wish they would stop doing that.

Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine," Esme replied half-heartedly, clearly disappointed and I looked at my sisters expectantly.

"Awww, mom, there'll be other shopping trips!" Alice reassured her, shouting into Rosalie's ear.

I froze and blinked. Other… shopping… trips? As in plural, as in more than this one? Oh hell.

Slowly, I backed away from the maniacal females in my family, I wondered for a second how long it would take me to run from Portland back to Forks, I could find Jasper and Emmett, they'd protect me, they'd have too.

"Of course, you can choose the outfit for the second dance he goes to," Rosalie suggested, grinning wildly.

Wait, what? Second dance? Na-uh when did I even agree to a second dance, when did a second dance come into the conversation for that matter? That's it, that was my cue to book it, I turned to break in into a sprint, only to have a miniature hand pull me back.

"Awww, Alice! Come on!" I protested feebly.

"Now, now Chris," Esme scolded from the phone, even though her tone was a bit amused, "you listen to your sister's instructions young man. Your sisters are doing this for you, you know, not for their own personal satisfaction-" wanna bet? I thought "Much." She added after a pause. I opened my mouth to protest but was cut off by Esme's stern: "No arguments," phrase which you would always imagine with the look she would give it.

"Okay, we need to get shopping," Alice announced "bye mom! We'll call you when we're on our way home and Chris can tell you all about his new suit." She let go of my shirt with a chirpy bounce and went behind me to literally push me into the store, I had no choice in the matter I had to give in or face more ear flicking.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time we got back to Forks, Edward had returned home from his Florida trip, Emmett and Jasper weren't home yet so I had to tease my brother on my own. He was parked on the couch watching the news when we walked in the door, the prime target. I watched carefully as Alice and Rosalie headed upstairs, carrying their own purchases in addition to my suit.

"So, how was the sunshine state?" I asked innocently. Edward glanced up at me and changed the channel to CNN,

"Sunny." Was his answer and I rolled my eyes,

"Get much time in the sun? you look a little tan." I think my brother was trying to ignore me at this point

"How was shopping?" he asked with a smirk "Rosalie and Alice have fun playing dress-up?"

I opened my mouth to give what I thought was a witty reply, but the news story on CNN caught my attention, three more bodies had turned up, only they were mutilated beyond recognition, dental records were needed to identify the victims. On top of that, five more people had gone missing, no trace of them.

The problem was, no it seemed really cared about the missing people at least the new ones, one cop in charge of the area of Seattle where the latest victims were found was the one who had noticed certain street people were missing. CNN it felt like was just brushing it off. I couldn't help but growl at their stupidly, I expected more from CNN. Edward also stopped and looked at it hard before he looked up at me.

"Its getting worse Edward," I said softly

"I know, but there isn't much we can do about it, even if it is our kind."

"Whoever it is, they're drawing way too much attention, it is not good, if it is one of our kind and it keeps on like this." I left that sentence unfinished "and on the other side, what if it is not one of us, what if this is a human, Seattle could be in for one of the most notorious serial killers its ever had, another Zodiac or Green River Killer, then what?" I was asking Edward not just as my brother, but as the vigilante he was for a period of time before I joined the family.

Edward nodded and shrugged, deciding to change the subject, though I could read his body language, what I had just said was weighing on his mind.

"How did things go yesterday?" he asked

"You mean this morning," Edward looked up at me quickly "Alice had another vision not long after you and Bella left, Victoria coming this morning."

Edward could read my mind, he knew exactly what had occurred in the forest earlier in the day, but I think he wanted to actually hear it.

"What happened?"

I took a deep breath

"She was playing us Edward, us against the pack. She ran the treaty line like she was reading it from a map, anytime one of us got close enough to grab her she'd dart over the line into the wolves territory, then she'd do the same thing to them. It was all a test I think, to see our strengths and weakness, to see theirs, test our fortitude to track her. She made one mistake the entire time and we would've had her, but one of the wolves became so focused on Emmett he left the hunt. In the split second right before she crossed into wolf territory Emmett was right behind her, he would've tackled her to the ground, but the wolf wouldn't let him pass. He was insisting that we had crossed the line and he was going to make sure we knew it." I paused "we hadn't though. We hadn't crossed the line. I know where it is we were not far from it, but not over it."

"What happened to Victoria?"

"Took off, heading west I think. The wolves wouldn't let us pass." I growled, "We could've had her, we could've ended this."

Edward reached up and patted my shoulder, a rare brotherly gesture that I hadn't experienced in a while from him, he's been so preoccupied lately.

"You guys did your best, its all we can do. This is going to take all of us, but we'll do it we'll get her."

I sighed, before vaulting over the couch and lowering myself down to sit down next to my brother.

"How much does Bella know?"

"Nothing," I chuckled "what?"

"We've seen how well keeping stuff from Bella works so yeah good luck with that. Is she still friends with the wolf?"

"Friends is an opportune word, I don't think she has yet to forgive him for the whole bike incident."

"Any chance he'd tell her?"

Edward looked at me quickly and I knew I had guessed correctly

"I'd say it's a pretty good bet."

"Good luck Edward, good luck," I replied grinning, he reached over and pushed me over, returning my grin.

"Tell you what, you be the one to keep her from talking to him, thank you for volunteering."

"In your bloody dreams Edward, I am not messing with Bella, no way in hell."


	6. Chapter 6

I knew there was going to be trouble as soon as we pulled into the school parking lot, the following Monday. My ability not only gave me a heads up about a possible situation, but put my stomach into knots, it always makes me wonder if it IS possible for vampires to get ulcers when that happens, 'cause I bloody swear I get them.

Edward had left before us to collect Bella and since she insists he drive somewhat slowly, Alice and I beat both of them to school no problem. Alice parked Rosalie's BMW and was just about to slide out when she froze, quickly I looked over at my sister.

"Alice?" I asked putting a hand on her shoulder, she was stiff and staring into her rearview mirror, I followed her gaze and saw what she did…Jacob Black standing with his motorcycle right near the stairs that led into the school.

"What the bloody hell is he doing here?" I growled

"Whatever it is, no good can come of it" Alice replied. I pushed open my door and slid out of the car quickly. "Chris don't-" Alice started to say, but I waved my hand at her.

"I just want to know what his deal is that's all." I turned and made a beeline for Jacob, trying to maintain human speed, but fighting every step. I wanted nothing more than to run up to him and demand to know what he wanted before Edward and Bella got there.

Alice started to follow me, but kept back a bit, she couldn't see the wolves psychically of course, but she could see me and would know if something in my future changed drastically. I was glad she stayed back, I didn't want Alice anywhere near Jacob until I knew what the situation was and how I could counter it.

Jacob looked up and I could see his nose wrinkling as he caught my scent, he was looking for Edward's car and was a little surprised he didn't see it, apparently, all of us vampires smell exactly alike.

When he finally realized the source of the smell he seemed to groan with frustration, which only got more prominent the closer I got. I tried to breathe through my mouth, the smell which hadn't been that noticeable in the car, was intensified and it was disgusting.

My mind quickly flashed back to the first time I had seen Jacob Black, it was while we Cullens were still "away". When Bella, Mike Newton, and Jacob Black had made arrangements to go to the movies together and I tagged along, unbeknownst to the fore mentioned individuals.

I had swung by the Swans house secretly of course just to see how Bella was doing and from my perch in the tree I was hit with the same smell I was faced with now, only it had most certainly gotten worse, then I remembered at that time, Jacob Black hadn't actually become a werewolf just yet, he was close, but not there yet. Now faced with that smell again I was practically gagging.

When I was about two feet from him, he put his hand up as a peace offering, which I didn't believe for a second.

"Look kid I don't have a problem with you right now, just keep walking," Jacob said softly almost sincerely, which I also didn't believe.

"Says the guy who is trespassing on school property," I muttered crossing my arms defiantly over my chest. "Amazing, you came here all by yourself, didn't think you needed to bring your bodyguards with you?" I looked around "it's a school, might be dangerous, heard the walls are full of silver." I'm a smart ass, what can I say.

"You're one to talk about trespassing. Can't keep that gorilla brother of yours on a shorter leash? He was over the line, you both were, you're lucky we were in a good mood."

"Hey!" I growled, I took a deep breath, the desire to defend my brother was weighing heavy on my mind, but I knew deep down I couldn't lose my cool.

For one thing, if I ticked Jacob off too much he might transform right in front of everyone, that wouldn't play out well for anyone, human, werewolf, or vampire. For another thing regrettably I was smaller than Jacob, if I did tick him off I might end up as his lunch, not exactly on my bucket list.

"What, did I say something that offended you?" Jacob asked, smirking, he knew he had hit a nerve and I had to pull myself together, I was letting him read me, worse I was getting emotional letting his words get to me.

"As a matter of fact, I just thought you outta know we could've taken care of the red-head if you idiots hadn't gotten in our way. We could've all protected the town, the reservation, and especially Bella and Chief Swan had we all worked together against her, not just us you guys too. But you guys screwed us up and she got away, she'll be back and now that she knows you guys are short-sighted she'll go for you guys first, you guys are the weakest piece on the board right now, she's using your hatred of us Cullens to blind you from seeing the big picture." Now Jacob's eyes flashed with a bit of anger "and we weren't over the line for your information, we were free and clear, fetch me a map and I'll prove it."

Jacob looked ready to lunge at me, I hadn't meant the fetch comment the way he took it, it had been meant only as something I normally say, like calling a flashlight a torch or an elevator a lift, its second nature to me. Some phrases and terms will never leave me because of how I was raised. But Jacob took it as the offensive 'fetch it' like a dog, but I swear I didn't mean it like that, though it was kind of funny after the fact.

He let out a low growl and I saw his eyes flash with anger, but I was watching for the signs of him transforming and I didn't see that, when we both heard a car pull into the parking lot, Bella and Edward had arrived. Jacob seemed to relax a bit when he saw her, I don't think he meant for me to see his reaction, but I saw his shoulders drop and his body become less tense.

I couldn't help smirking, as I understood what his real deal was, it had nothing to do with one of his pack-brothers trying to turn Emmett into a vampire chew-toy.

Jacob had foolishly assumed that Bella's sudden disappearance for the weekend was not to see her mother, but because Edward had turned her, what an idiot.

What really surprised me though was the look on Edward's face when he saw me standing near Jacob. It was a look of anger, not towards me, at Jacob and obvious concern for my safety, he didn't like the idea of Jacob being at the school for one thing but talking to me either. I could see a side of my brother that I know is always there especially towards me, but he doesn't always show his protective side.

"You might want to get to class little Flea, wouldn't want you to be late," Jacob growled, staring at my brother.

"Over my undead body." I growled right back "I think I want to stay out here in the fresh Forks air, just got to ignore the pungent smell of wet dog."

Now Jacob shot me a cold stare, expecting me to flinch, which I didn't, but in the back of my mind, I was preparing for a fight. I've learned over the decades just how far I can instigate; it ties into my ability and reading people.

Off to the side, I could see Mike, Ben, Tyler, and Austin watching intently, if I didn't know any better I'd say Ben was about ten seconds away from getting in between Jacob and me, my calm attitude was the only reason he hadn't.

Right alongside Edward came Bella, he was holding her tight against him, Edward was trying to walk at a normal human speed, but he obviously wanted to get to Jacob and me as quickly as possible.

_He wanted to make sure Bella was still human_ I thought giving my brother a heads up, it was hardly necessary though, Edward could read Jacob's thoughts as easily as he read mine, but Edward just nodded at me.

"You could have called us," Edward said pointedly

"Sorry I don't have any leeches on my speed dial," Jacob replied

"Yeah, your phone's memory is probably too full, what with the animal shelter, the dog officer, the American Kennel Club, Happy Tails Grooming Saloon, and the World Wildlife Foundation, on speed dial." I shot back, a little offended by Jacob's derogatory remarks, I mean really, calling me a flea how in any way did I resemble a flea, and what about calling us leeches, Wolf Boy here was one to talk, bloodsucker fine…but leech is pushing it.

Edward reached over with the free hand that wasn't holding Bella and put it on my shoulder, as he glared at Jacob, Jacob's glares were directed right at me.

"Chris can you take Alice inside, Jacob and I have some things to discuss," Edward spoke up, not taking his eyes off of Jacob.

"I think I'm better off sticking around Edward." I replied, keeping my own glare locked on Jacob, "I've got a rolled-up newspaper in my backpack just in case."

I could've sworn I heard Edward groan at my last comment, he knows I always choose my words carefully and make sure my point gets across and he was certainly worried that was exactly what was about to happen.

Jacob opened his mouth to say something to me, Edward however continued, he wasn't comfortable with either Bella or me sticking around while he confronted Jacob, but he knows I won't bow out when I'm needed, and Bella is just stubborn enough to stick around anyways.

"Very well." He paused and looked at Jacob "you could have reached me at Bella's house, of course." The look of hatred on Jacob's face made me think about flinching just out instinct, but I knew that would solve anything. "This is hardly the place, Jacob. Could we discuss this later?"

"Sure, sure. I'll stop by your crypt after school." Jacob shot back "what's wrong with now?"

"I already know what you came to say," Edward's voice got so low normal humans nearby wouldn't hear him and Bella would have to really listen carefully even as close as she was. "Message delivered. Consider us warned."

Now I growled, Edward's hold on my shoulder tightened as he tried to reassure me, which was going to be tough.

We were in the right Edward and he knows it! I thought angrily, of course, my thoughts weren't intentionally angry at my brother, but Edward understood, he looked down at me with his eyes only and silently told me to drop it for now. Something I wasn't really ready to do, but I kept my mouth shut for a minute or two as Bella pushed to find out what had happened over the weekend.

I shouldn't be surprised that Edward hadn't told Bella anything yet, not that I expected him too.

"He didn't tell you that his big…brother and this little Flea crossed the line Saturday night?" Jacob asked simply but sarcastically. "Paul was totally justified in-"

"He was not!" I shouted louder than I meant too at the same time Edward hissed:

"It was no man's land!"

"Was not!" Jacob replied

"Was too! We did not cross the line you moronic prat! Learn to read a bloody map!" I growled, I felt Bella jump a bit at my anger and I instantly felt bad, but it didn't change the fact I was ready to carry on a long drawn out battle of words with Jacob.

"Chris," Edward spoke up interrupting us "I'll take care of it, go inside now. Marie is waiting for you."

I looked up to where my brother was nodding. Marie had come out of the building behind Jacob. She looked curious and concerned at the same time like she wasn't sure if she should come down to us or run back inside and get a teacher, Alice who had been debating moving towards us had walked up the stairs to Marie.

I really didn't want to leave Edward going solo, but he gave me a gentle push and I gave in.

Seconds before it actually happened, my profile alerted me to Ben's action. I'll admit I was surprised as he put a hand on my shoulder and guided me towards the stairs where Angela and Sarah had now joined Alice and Marie, with one shove he sent me towards the ramp where the girls were waiting.

Ben had been watching the entire scene unfold along with Austin, Tyler, and Mike, more students were gathering to watch. Most of them were kind of hoping for a fight, but surprisingly Austin, Ben, Tyler, and Mike were watching for another reason, to step in and break it up if they had too. It kind of amused me that they thought they could break up a fight if it came down to it, but at the same time, I was impressed with their "friendship" with my brother.

Once I was away from the initial argument, I figured I could just watch from afar and step in if I was needed, Alice had other plans, and she literally pushed me into the building as Angela dragged Sarah and Marie inside.

"What the bloody hell Alice?" I hissed but stopped as soon she gave me 'the look'. Sensing the tension, Angela, Marie, and Sarah moved away from us, Angela and Sarah to the cafeteria, while Marie stayed off to the side, waiting for me as she usually did, but giving my sister and I our space. "Edward is out there arguing with…" I couldn't even get the word out, especially now that we were inside and surrounded by well-meaning eavesdroppers "I should be out there helping him."

"Chris you were making things worse. I know you didn't mean too, but you were picking a fight."

I started to argue with her, but quickly realized Alice was right, that was the reason she had stayed back when I confronted Jacob and why she had stayed back when Edward and Bella had shown up. Alice was trying to keep Jacob from thinking three vampires were ganging up on him. I had just been to worked up to see that scenario.

"Damn…" I muttered, "I was making it worse wasn't I?"

Alice held up her hand so her pointer finger was just touching her thumb

"Just a bit Chris." I couldn't help but glance behind me out the door towards my brother, Bella and Jacob "it'll be fine Chris…"

I had hoped Alice was right, but I spent the entire morning thinking about it, I couldn't let it go. My ability was going over the scenarios like a quick scenes in a movie, it even reached the point where I was questioning the territory…had we been over the line? Was Jacob right, I've been wrong on stuff before, I'm not perfect, no one is.

But I've studied the maps of Forks and LaPush countless times. Carlisle and I sat down at one point and mapped out the area, it was mainly for hunting purposes, we were trying to keep track of where the carnivores and the herbivores tended to congregate the most, for our own sake we were also very detailed on the line that Carlisle and Ephraim Black had agreed. That's what was so frustrating, I knew the area better than most, but in all fairness so should the wolves, they run the line all the time doing patrols to make sure our kind stay off their land. Wouldn't it make sense that the wolves would know just as well, if not better than me exactly where the line boundary is?

My photographic like memory easily pictured the map, but I needed something I could physically hold in my hand, I wanted to look at it carefully. Even though I promised myself I would study it in depth as soon as I got home, it was like a little singsong in the back of my head, it would go away, the very real chance Jacob had been right and we had been very lucky that things did not escalate.

By fourth period, I was making my friends nervous, US History and Calculus it was easy enough to blend in, we had tests in both those classes in preparation for our upcoming finals. Even Phys Ed, my limited attention wasn't noticeable, we were running the mile, a nice slow paced jog was exactly the thing I needed to sort out the confrontation with Jacob. Normally I hate gym, but the mile took up the entire class period, so I just took my time and ran it.

However, it was fourth period when I didn't have a distraction like a test to focus on or a mile run to actually relax. English class Mr. Bertie was actually lecturing and expected all of us to be paying attention. He had to call my name twice before I responded and I was so distracted, I couldn't answer his question at first, until he repeated it a third time, asking me to recite a stanza.

Luckily for me, Sarah was sitting next to me, she nudged me gently and pointed at the line he wanted me to recite, I gave her a half-grin, grateful for the help.

When I looked up at Mr. Bertie I kind of expected him to be ready to kill me, he's not the world's most easy-going teacher. I mean Jones was cruel and an idiot which is always a bad combination, Bertie is just old fashion and strict, he doesn't take crap from anyone. Instead of the look of death, he was looking at me like a concerned parent or grandparent.

When the bell rang and I gathered up my things I expected Mr. Bertie to inquire about my lack of focus in class, so I wasn't surprised that he gestured for me to come to his desk.

"Mr. Cullen if I may you seem quite distracted today, which is highly unusual for you, is everything all right?"

I adjusted my backpack and nodded

"Yes Mr. Bertie, just feeling a little under the weather." Bertie nodded, "may I have a pass to the nurse?"

Now Bertie smiled

"Of course Mr. Cullen I do hope you feel better soon." He replied writing up a pass for me.

Marie was waiting for me outside the classroom and she looked extremely concerned and put her hand on my arm gently.

"Chris are you okay?" she asked, "it's not like you to be spacing out during English." I nodded "does it have anything to do with that guys your brother and Bella were talking too?"

"Kind of, he's a friend of Bella and Edward thinks he's a little to reckless with Bella."

"Wow," Marie breathed "is he the one who got her the motorcycle."

"Well, she got the motorcycle herself, but he rebuilt it and taught her to ride it. I guess Chief Swan really has an issue with bikes." I paused "anyways, Bella wants to hang out with him, and Edward's kind of deadest against it. If you haven't noticed my brother's a little overprotective."

Marie giggled and nodded. Then she looked at the pass in my hand and looked at me sympathetically

"Are you going to go home sick?"

I shrugged

"I think I can tough it out for another few periods," I crumbled the pass in my hand and tossed it in the hallway recycle bin. I really did want to just get home and look at the map, I also knew that if I didn't I was going to spend the rest of school dwelling on it, but at the same time I really didn't want to explain to Esme why I was suddenly so interested in the maps or why I was so stressed about them.

I may have a short attention span, but when something is bugging me, I tend to lose whatever ADD I may have and become completely nitpicky on it. I dunno maybe it is a little OCD, I'm pretty sure it's hereditary because I know my dad was the same way when it came to finding a solution to something that was bothering him he would not let it go, like the first time I beat him at chess, he spent weeks going over our game and each move I made to figure out where he went wrong and how I won, then again it might've had something to do with the fact that I was six.

It would just be normal to assume that becoming a vampire might make OCD or ADD or whatever, go away, I'm pretty sure it not only intensified it, but maybe the basis for my ability, attention to detail.

I knew I had to just deal with it for now, ignore it as best I could and figure it out when I got home, besides, the next class was Spanish and if I know Mr. King the Spanish teacher, I was not going to be able to sit back and relax during class nor would I be able to be completed distracted and off in my own world.

He's a nice guy and all and a decent teacher in the normal sense, but his background in Spanish is limited to being a tourist and knowing the basics of the language.

Like I said he's a decent teacher, but he's a chemistry teacher who was asked to fill in for the Spanish teacher after she went on maternity leave in September.

I had expected to come back to Forks High school and find that they hired an actual long term sub so that Mr. King could go back to teaching what he knows and what he is obviously more comfortable in. But the school felt he was doing a decent enough job apparently and asked him to stick it out for the rest of the year until the actual Spanish teacher returns. Mr. King who didn't want to turn the school down agreed, but again I make the argument he speaks the language well enough to converse, but, teaching it, well that's another story.

Usually, I have to help him along. I blame the entire situation on myself, I was the idiot who opened his big fat mouth and clued Mr. King into the fact that while I can speak French, do to their similarity, I can also speak Spanish pretty well, better than most.

For the first time at least I had experienced, Mr. King was out and we actually had a sub, who spoke FLUENT Spanish and was willing to follow Mr. King's lesson plan, To say that I was thrilled for class would be one helluva an understatement.

When lunch finally rolled around, I was actually feeling a bit better, I still wanted to get home and look at the maps, but it wasn't as much a priority as it had been earlier in the day. Instead of sitting at the senior table like I usually do, I joined my small group of friends with Marie.

I wasn't sure how much if anything Edward had told Bella and I was a little worried she would pester me for details, since she knows Alice won't blab, but there is always a possibility that I might. Us freshmen in King's Spanish class usually beat everyone else to lunch, including Bella, Edward, and Alice and today was no different.

When they walked into the cafeteria the look on Bella's face told me two things, first that Edward had told Bella why exactly he took her to Florida and what had happened here in Forks while they had been gone, and two Bella was not a happy camper about what had occurred over the weekend.

She looked over at our table and caught me profiling her; she narrowed her eyes a bit. I could clearly see she wasn't pleased with us, but I wasn't in as much trouble as my brother. She was waiting for an explanation of some sorts, one that I would have to give later, so to at least start I mouthed 'I'm sorry' before I shrugged and turned my attention back to the discussion at my table, the stupid dance…to be honest I think I'd rather face the wolves and Bella's wrath than listen to the guys complaining about the dance, while Marie and the other girls just sat there and giggled.


	7. Chapter 7

I was surprised when Alice and I got home that Esme wasn't home. Usually, she's at the door waiting for us to come in, it's kind of silly, but she loves being there when we come home from school. Esme wasn't there, neither was Emmett or Rose, Carlisle still had an hour of his shift left so we weren't expecting him, but Jasper wasn't home either.

I looked over at Alice who shrugged

"Did we forget something or miss something?" I asked my sister Alice didn't get a chance to answer me as EVERYONE came home, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone including Bella and Edward. Esme and Rose must have gone shopping because both were carrying various bags, I'm not quite sure where my brothers went and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

I knew the look on Bella's face meant one thing, she wanted to know what had occurred over the weekend, in other words, family meeting.

We waited of course until Carlisle returned home. To pass the time, Emmett took charge of the TV and channel surfed. Bella surprisingly sat down in between Alice and I, while Edward stared at us in disbelief. I couldn't be sure, but I do believe that Edward was on Bella's 'list' for his Florida stunt. I couldn't exactly tell if Bella would have been better off knowing why Edward was hiding her in Florida for the weekend or if she would've been angry with him either way.

Emmett began laughing hard as he stumbled upon a movie, I didn't even need him to go to info to figure it out, the cow flying by the red truck was the only clue I needed, Emmett had found Twister. As the twister in the movie died down leaving the three actors stunned in the cab of the truck, Emmett leaned over to me

"So Kid here's a thought would it be fun to be sucked up by a twister." He asked a look on his face that told me he was dead serious. I slapped my forehead as Bella looked down at me

"Seriously Emmett?"

"Yeah,"

"I'm sure as a human it would hurt like hell before dying."

"Yeah, but what if it was one of us? I mean it's just an idea."

"Why are you asking me anyways? Jasper's the one from Texas, he could probably tell you better if he's ever seen one of us get sucked up." I wasn't entirely sure if this conversation was meant to be funny or not, I could read Emmett's face he thought it was funny, but at the same time, I could also see his genuine curiosity.

Jasper glanced over at the two of us from the movie and shook his head, clearly, he wanted to stay out of this conversation for as long as possible. Bella, however, was apparently amused, Emmett and I have always made her laugh and this time was no different as she tried to hold back giggles.

"Okay well here's another thought, the end of the movie." Emmett changed subjects

"You mean the part that's still like an hour and four tornados away?" I asked and he nodded

"Yeah that, so when they're strapped in that outhouse thing and the twister comes out like roar and rips the outhouse apart leaving just Helen Hunt and what's his name-"

"Bill Paxton?" Bella answered before I could and I grinned at her, she shrugged "I have no idea why I knew that."

"Yeah him! Anyways, how the heck could they survive flapping in the tornado held down by giant rubber bands?"

"Well to quote the movie, the pipes went down at least 50 feet," I spoke up, sarcastically.

"Exactly my point, how is that physically possible?"

"It's not Emmett," I replied "its called Hollywood."

Emmett got this gleam in his eyes and I could only groan at what I was sure he wanted, Emmett tends to be pretty easy to profile and he has yet to disappoint me.

"I think we should experiment sometime. Y'know, recreate that scene like on Mythbusters."

Ah yes, Mythbusters, Emmett's latest obsession, he's fascinated by the experiments those guys do and while I enjoy the show myself, I felt like Emmett was taking it a bit to far, and I hate to admit it, but he actually irked my curiosity and a tiny part of me wanted to know if what he was thinking was plausible.

Thankfully I didn't get a chance to hear any more of his plans for the moment as Carlisle came home. He was a little dumbfounded by the gathering in the living room and looked at me first, before exchanging a look with Esme. For some reason, I was automatically involved and I'm not entirely sure if I should feel a little put out by that fact or just go with the humor in the situation.

"Family meeting I assume?" Carlisle asked, a hint of amusement in his voice, Edward crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at Bella who gave the look right back to him, it was actually amusing to see Bella not giving into Edward's looks. "Ah, well, let me put some things into my office and we can all meet in the dining room?"

Edward seemed to want to delay this meeting as long as possible so he nodded, and Bella, well she didn't really have a choice in that particular matter. While everyone else trudged towards the dining room, Emmett groaning about missing the rest of the movie, even after I reminded him that we own it, I followed Esme into the kitchen.

Since Bella has become a regular fixture around our house, Esme has taken to stalking up on certain grocery items, canned goods, snack foods, things of that sort. So when I found her in the kitchen, Esme was putting some cookies on a plate and pouring Bella a glass of milk. I wasn't entirely sure Bella would be in the mood for anything other than answers, but who was I to put a damper on Esme's mothering moment.

"Oh good, Christian here you bring these to Bella, I'll be in momentarily."

"Sure mum," I replied trying not to laugh as I carried Bella's milk and cookies into the dining room. I waited for the comments to come and Emmett and Jasper didn't disappoint.

"Aw, lookie!" Emmett cooed "Chrissy has a snack!"

Jasper, who is a lot more mature than Emmett (or even me at some points) could ever hope to be, just grinned

"Going to share?" he asked in a serious tone, which didn't go well with the giant grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes and put the plate and glass down in front of Bella, she raised her eyebrow at me suspiciously, like I was trying to bribe her with cookies. Instead of explaining anything to her, I simply pointed at the cookies, grinned and headed over to my usual seat in between Alice, and where Esme would sit.

Once Esme and Carlisle had joined the table (I'm sure they were having a quick meeting in the kitchen about what to tell and what not to tell Bella), everyone kind of exchanged looks with each other. No one wanted to be the first to speak and no one was really sure where to begin. I think we were all thankful when Carlisle cleared his throat, getting the ball rolling so to speak.

"First off Bella, our intent was not to deceive you this past weekend and furthermore our only goal was to make sure everyone involved was safe."

"Edward's probably told you the main premise of what went on this weekend right?" I asked and Bella nodded a slight scowl on her face.

As amused, as I was with that, in all fairness, Edward had done what he thought was the best way to protect Bella and no one could fault him on that, at least not this time.

"Yes, in a cliff notes version."

"Better than nothing" Emmett snickered "Everything that happened this weekend was done to assure everyone's safety, we had to find the best way to make sure the town was safe, you were safe, and" Bella started to say Charlie's name, but I was already on that path "and Charlie, he was perfectly safe. The wolves were protecting their territory as we were protecting ours and boundary lines got a little mixed up, that was no one individual's fault, the wolves were doing what they thought was best to protect the reservation."

"It was still a risk that none of you should have taken. I shouldn't need you guys to protect me every waking minute. If I was one of you now I would be less of a liability."

"You're not a liability." Esme reprimanded gently

"of course you're not," Carlisle added

"Well, regardless if Victoria attacks again wouldn't it be in everyone's best interest if I was one of you," Bella argued

I could've slapped my forehead, Bella was completely one tracked on becoming a vampire. Even though Alice had seen it happening and even though I had voted on yes to her becoming one of us, we wanted to put it off as long as possible, that was the one thing most of us agreed on, excluding Rosalie and Edward neither of who wanted it to happen at all, each for their own reason of course.

Edward wanted Bella to enjoy as many human experiences as possible before she was damned to immortality and that was completely understandable. I found it hilarious Edward's terms for Bella becoming a vampire early, she had to marry him; the alternative was Carlisle would do it after graduation in a few weeks.

The main argument that always kept Bella thinking about her decision was the mention of Charlie. It would be easy for Bella to fade away from his life after graduation, even closer to the fall when she would be "starting" school at some far-away university. But Bella's constant pushing at it happening earlier could always be unhinged if Charlie was mentioned.

We knew it would devastate him if he lost Bella early. Then there was one thing that I had considered that no one else seemed to have considered, the wolves. They knew what we Cullens were if Bella Swan went missing all of a sudden before high school graduation there would be only one explanation the wolves would come too, she had been bitten; either killed by one of us or changed by one of us.

Personally I wasn't thinking of the treaty, after all, that sucker had been broken when Carlisle changed me, but the wolves didn't know that. All of our coming actions had to be planned accordingly; we could very well start a war with the wolves if we didn't do this the correct way. If we didn't, we might end up with a scene straight out of a 30s horror movie, the villagers storming our house with pitchforks and torches, led by a pack of shape-shifting Indians.

I felt eyes boring into my skull and looked over at the source. Edward, of course, had just seen everything I had profiled and it just made him that much more nervous. After exchanging a look, we both simultaneously looked over at Bella who seemed to be considering everyone's words carefully.

"There are eight of us Bella, and with Alice and Chris on our side, I don't believe Victoria is going to catch us off guard again. I think it's important for Charlie's sake that we stick to the original plan." Carlisle offered and Bella took a deep breath

"We'd never allow anything to happen to you sweetheart. You know that. Please don't be anxious," Esme added kissing Bella on the forehead

"Carlisle and Esme are right," Jasper spoke up "we know her game now, you are perfectly safe."

"Yeah," Emmett exclaimed "and seriously Bella, I'm really glad Edward didn't kill you. Everything's been so much more fun with you around."

I nearly burst out laughing at that, even with Rosalie glaring at the both of us. Alice, however, had this hurt look on her face, I know it was real, but she was milking it for all she could.

"I'm offended. You're not honestly worried about this are you?"

"If it's no big deal." Bella countered "then why did Edward drag me to Florida?"

"'Cause he really wanted to find Mickey Mouse?" I whispered Emmett and Jasper burst out laughing as Rosalie's glare intensified and Bella, Alice, and Edward joined her.

"Haven't you noticed yet Bella, that Edward is just the teeniest bit prone to overreaction?" Alice asked, ignoring the three of us. Bella started to argue, to that when I knew I had to say my piece and be done with it. Of course, key point number one, get Bella to laugh or at least smile.

"Edward overreact? Just a wee bit m'lady." I allowed myself to slip back into my accent, it set Emmett and Jasper off again, this time laughing at my accent, but it would be worth it in the end. Once I got at least a smile out of Bella I went serious "do you know what the phrase vous êtes notre soeur' means"

Bella shook her head "no" she said honestly

"well, how about haud ignota loquor?" I grinned as Bella shook her head again "well the first thing I said was French, and it means you are our sister. The second thing I said is Latin, roughly translated it means I speak not of unknown things. So, in other words, Bella, calm down, everything will be fine and will work out, I wouldn't say we'd be fine if it wasn't the truth, trust the profiler, we give the straight facts no hesitation no falsehood." I paused "please don't become like Edward, if he was human his hair would be gray and falling out from all the overreacting and stress he puts himself under."

That did it, that was all I needed as Bella started to laugh a bit, especially when Edward reached over and tried to give me a push off my chair. Luckily I was expecting it and easily moved to one side so he promptly missed.

xxx

Bella decided to stay at the house for a little longer, I don't think she was really ready to go face Charlie, which actually worked in my favor.

It was not lost on anyone in the family that Bella looked extremely disappointed that she was leaving the Cullen house still human. As much as I liked the idea of Bella joining our family and Edward finally getting back to normal, I did have to agree with Rosalie about how Bella wanted to go about it, Rose's biggest issue was that Bella thought regarding her own life.

Rosalie has always been particular when she sees people taking their life for granted, something all of us know too well, so no one can really blame Rose on how she feels. I had to agree, it really did feel like Bella was taking her life for granted like she felt there was nothing important about her human life so the only option was to become a vampire. I didn't like that at all, it felt wrong and I knew I had to say something to Bella, privately, I had to find a way to just help her to understand something.

She had returned to the couch with Edward, Alice, Emmett, and Jasper and all five of them looked up at me when I walked into the family room.

"Hey, Bella can I show you something?" I asked, she looked over at Edward for a brief second before she stood up and followed me upstairs. As we climbed the stairs I felt Bella looking over at me, obviously confused. When we finally reached my room I offered Bella the choice of chairs and she took my computer chair.

"So, is everything okay Chris?" she asked as I sat down on my window seat Indian style, leaning against the window.

I was trying not to worry or scare Bella, but I had to get this off my chest, her apparent disregard for her own human life was one thing, but the fact she kept forgetting about others made me just that much more determined to talk to her.

"Bella-" I started to say

"Chris, are you regretting your vote?"

"No of course not, I meant every word that I said, but I just wanted to make sure you completely understand the retributions that will come from it." I paused "how much as Edward really told you about me coming into this life?" When Bella didn't answer right away I grinned, "you know the basics right, Second World War, Blitz, Luftwaffe, Chris being an idiot?"

Now Bella nodded, unsure if she should smile at that last part, which she should've I put it in there to lighten the mood a bit, apparently it didn't work.

"That he did tell me, about how you were heading home from school, the bombing started you took cover under some rubble and were nearly crushed to death."

"Exactly, I was brought to the hospital Carlisle was volunteering at, and he took a chance with me to turn me. It was like fate was giving me a second chance, the Germans had basically picked me to die and I had the chance to live…I was a kid, who didn't look that far in the future, I saw what was going on right then and there." I paused "I said yes Bella, when Carlisle asked me if I was willing for him to save my life by turning me into a vampire I told him I trusted him and allowed him to turn me." I took a deep breath "I was near death Bella, eternal sleep was the only thing that was certainly coming my way."

"Do you regret Carlisle changing you?" Bella asked, she obliviously thought that was my purpose in the story.

I shook my head quickly

"Never, like I said Bella, my only option was death. If I had told Carlisle no, I would've died within hours. I didn't want to die, I wanted to live, I was surrounded by death on a daily basis. I lost a lot of friends in the month or so leading up to my turn. I was a kid Bella, I didn't want to die I didn't want to be just another causality the war when someone is offering you life when death is the only thing that's certain, you will take life."

"You must have been scared."

"I was terrified, who wouldn't be, even after Carlisle started the process there was a tiny thought in the back of my head, making me wonder if I had made the right decision, was becoming a vampire better than death... You had a taste of that fear last year when the tracker bit you, right? You felt that pain and the uncertainty, believe me there isn't one of us who doesn't remember that feeling, some just choose to ignore it." I looked right at Bella "do you know why I'm telling you all this?"

Bella shook her head

"Not really Chris,"

"There's one part of my story that Edward probably left out, that everyone tends to leave out."

Bella raised an eyebrow and looked very confused

"What's that?"

"What happened afterwards, what happened after Carlisle turned me and the transformation was complete."

"What do you mean?"

"My parents Bella, my human parents, I couldn't just forget about them. I was wracked with guilt in the days following my transformation. As any of us what we remember about our parents and I guarantee you'll see the reaction in everyone's eyes, a look of sadness and regret as they try to remember them and are either unable to or are able to. The main difference between me and my siblings is my age. I wasn't ready to leave my parents I was still a kid. I may have talked about running off to fight in the war and to take charge as the man of the house while my father was on the front lines, but deep inside I was a kid who just wanted to stay that way. I was an only child just like you and I loved my parents and just wanted to be with them for as long as possible."

Bella had actually moved to the edge of her seat and I could see the look of sorrow in her eyes, I was hitting the exact nerve I wanted to.

"I didn't know Chris, I didn't even think-" she said softly and I smiled gently

"It's okay Bella, it's all part of the problem of being the youngest in the family. Edward was a year from enlistment age, Jasper was a major in the confederate army, Rose was engaged, even Emmett had moved away from childhood clinginess to his parents, everyone kind of forgets that I wasn't at that age yet, I wasn't even close, I was thirteen. I may not have admitted it out loud, but I wanted nothing more than to be with my mum and dad." I paused "so a few days after everything was complete, I began pestering Carlisle. I asked him constantly to allow me to see my mother, even from afar. I couldn't grasp the fact that it was dangerous to go see her, that I might very well attack my mother. I was a newborn vampire with a thirst that was barely controlled. I countered with every argument I could think of, but Carlisle stayed firm. He knew the danger even if I couldn't see it."

"What happened?"

"I finally convinced Carlisle to at least go speak to my mother. I couldn't live an eternity with the thought that she believed I may still be alive. I wanted him to tell her I was dead." I took a deep breath "but it reached the point after he left for the city, that I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to see my mother." I put my head down. "I had this incredible guilt eating away at me, not only had I abandoned my mother during a war, but I had gone against my father's strict order to watch over her. Added to that…I had done something the last time I had seen my mother that even to this day hurts when I think about it."

Bella's confusion grew as she looked at me

"What was that?"

"That morning, right before I left for school my mother was fussing over me. Trying to get me to wear my scarf, fixing my uniform, the whole lot of it. My friends were waiting on the walkway for me, mum was trying to something off my face that I insisted wasn't there. The final straw was her telling me she loved me, right in front of my friends. I was so embarrassed that I pretended I hadn't heard her, then she said it again louder this time only in Gaelic, which was even worse in my mind. I had been teased and ridiculed relentlessly when we first moved to London from Scotland because I spoke Gaelic as well as English, I was not prepared to face that again. I waved goodbye to her and took off with my friends. My mother said goodbye to me, told me she loved me twice and I assumed I would have the chance to say it back to her and hug her when I returned home from school later in the day. I never thought that I wouldn't get the chance, that my life as I knew it was going to end and I would never speak to my mother again."

I certainly meant to leave an impression on Bella and make her think about her own future. The last thing I wanted to do was make her cry, but that was exactly what she was doing, I could see the tears streaming down her face.

"I…" she started to say, but couldn't finish the sentence.

I figured I would just finish the story, I was nearly done anyway, I had already hit a nerve, I could see that.

"Carlisle left Edward in charge of me while he returned to the city to deliver my message to my mother. I begged and pleaded with him to take me to London, so I could at least see my mother, my plan was to get to the city and talk to my mother I had it in my mind that I was superhuman, Superman, I could not only protect my mother but protect London, I could end the war easily by myself. Edward, of course, refused to give in, he read my thoughts he knew what I wanted to really do and he wouldn't give in. So I took matters into my own hands, I bolted, catching him off guard. Of course, he tackled me easily. I'm pretty fast Bella, and as a newborn, I was couldn't be caught, but I was also unsure where I was and lack of direction slowed me down. Edward knew the real reason Carlisle didn't want me to see my mother and it had nothing to do with safety. I was pretty strong-willed for a newborn so that wasn't the problem."

"What was?"

"Guilt." I answered "I convinced Edward with certain specifications to take me to London. He did, reluctantly and as soon as I saw my mother, from the street in front of our house and the pain on her face, the pain that I had put there. I understood instantly what Edward and Carlisle had meant by guilt, her pain was my fault. Carlisle hadn't wanted the last image of my mother I had, to be this. But I had to weigh the lesser of two evils, what was worse in my mind the guilt of what I had done to my mother before I left forever, or the guilt of what I was witnessing." I paused "I never got to say goodbye to my mother, that was the last time I ever saw her I never saw my father again. The last time I saw him was when he enlisted to the front as a medic. Both my parents were dead less six months after I joined the Cullens. My father was killed protecting Saint Paul's Cathedral when the German's began bombing it right after Christmas, my mother was dead a few months later, she just died no explanation." I paused once more.

I felt a lump form in my throat, even all these years later talking about my parents and the truth surrounding their deaths was tough.

I had done so much to separate myself from their deaths, it was a different life a different world, and yet, they were my parents, my world, I had lost them without saying goodbye. I wanted Bella to understand so much, mainly, what she would give up, who would be hurt, and the loss at stack with her decision.

I wanted her to realize that her decision couldn't be rash, I 'd had no choice, she did. Carlisle had said it to me, Edward had said it to me, immortality comes with a price, you have to be willing to pay that price even if you might regret it later on, because you will regret it in some way, there will always be an inkling in the back of your mind 'did I make the right decision'.

"Oh, Chris…" Bella sniffed

"Bella, I'm not telling you this to hurt you or to change your mind about becoming one of us. I said it before, you are already my sister nothing will change that. I just wanted you to realize what you will leave behind. You keep insisting that it happen right away, but you need to think of those around you who you will leave behind. Your friends, your family, you will never see them again, they will continue to live their human lives and that will include their human deaths. It's inevitable Bella. Just remember what I told you, don't take people around you for granted. I would give anything including my immortality just for the chance to hug my mother again and tell her over and over I love her and I'm sorry."

I reached over to my wall and took down a framed photograph. It was one of the few things I had recovered from my house when Carlisle and I went there the last time in 1948. A photograph of my parents and me in front of our parlor smiles all around a serious photograph that turned humorous on account of my father. I handed it over to Bella, she stared at it, tears still streaming down her face.

"Your parents?" she asked rhetorically and I nodded taking a deep, calming breath. I couldn't cry it was physically impossible, but I still felt the emotions and the sadness, especially at seeing how Bella was reacting. I knew I had done what I had intended, I had made Bella listen at least for the moment.

"The last photo of us together, it was taken right before Germany invaded Poland, literally days before Great Britain declared war on Germany. It's the only way I've been able to really remember them, my memory is sharp, but if I didn't have this photograph I wouldn't remember what my parents looked like. You don't want to have that on your mind, thinking you have eternity to accrue memories of those close to you, 'cause you never know when it all comes crashing down."

I left it at that, I didn't say her parents' names, there was no need, Bella obviously understood the main premise for my story. Bella stood up slowly, walked over to me, and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you Chris." She said softly handing the photograph back to me.

"You're welcome Bella," I replied, giving her a half-grin.


	8. Chapter 8

After Edward had left with Bella, bringing her home, everyone else kind of dispersed, off to do their own thing.

My plan was to go about doing what I had planned on doing when I got home, have a look at the boundary maps. Call it stubbornness, call it part of my ability, but when I know I'm right about something, I tend to go into overdrive trying to prove that I'm right. I will go about and find whatever documentation, witness statements, what have you, whatever I need to do to prove I'm right.

But as I was heading towards Carlisle's office, I kept thinking about Bella and what I had just told her. The conversation with her I'd had, well it gave me a new sense of where we stand with one another. I've seen Bella as my sister for a long time now, but we've never really had an opportunity (or a need, at least on my part) to share stuff, especially on the level I had just done. Granted the connection we have now is a far cry from the fear I had of her when she first moved to Forks and started on the path to intertwine with our family, but even so, I've never opened up with her and I still maintain a sort of distance with her.

I've always kind of been a background player, an extra if you will throughout her interaction with my family, especially in the beginning, the summer, and of course, the week or so leading up to the disastrous birthday which caused us to move in the first place.

This was not done intentionally on anyone's part; it's just another piece that plays into my ability. As a profiler, I see things in a different light, so I tend to sit in the background or off to the side and observe before I interact. There are so many players in my family, it's easy for me as the youngest to get kind of lost in the shuffle, I'm okay with that, I really am I have no problem with others taking the spotlight. I like doing what I do from behind the scenes.

Alice has always had a big part to play, as well as Edward of course, and Carlisle and Esme. Jasper tries to hide in the background with me but that ship sailed during Bella's birthday party he gives Bella a small glimpse into the life of what most of our kind is like, the blood-sucking creatures from folklore, he's there to show her that yes that life is a possibility, but at the same time, he shows Bella that it is possible to overcome it, which is what Jasper has done.

Emmett is the comic relief, the big brother that Bella never had who will always be there to make her laugh, he shows Bella that it is possible to be happy and enjoy our immortality, a counteraction of Rose's attitude towards it.

Speaking of Rose…Rose is the self-appointed arch enemy. Her jealousy of Bella is mind-boggling sometimes and just as amusing, but I know my sister, she respects Bella and is fighting with herself to do away with the 'I do not like you' persona, I just haven't gotten her to admit it, in some ways (and if Rose ever finds out about this comparison I will be a dead man) sometimes to me Rose's inner fight regarding Bella is like Gollum's fight with himself in the Hobbit and more importantly Lord of the Rings. The lengthy arguments he has with his own, I guess conscience is comical in one sense, but a very real inner struggle, one that I'm pretty sure Rose goes through often enough.

Then there's me, what exactly do I bring into Bella's life? I may joke around with Emmett and make her laugh, but I'm not the comic relief. I'm not in love with her and determined to protect her from the world like Edward, I'd do anything in my ability to protect her of course, but that goes along with I generally care about her wellbeing. Even for my ability, it is tough for me to see my part to play in Bella's world.

But by opening myself up to Bella as I had just done, it gave me some hope that hopefully, I can figure out my position in Bella's life, I'm perfectly happy if I just move into the spot of little brother.

I also know that I can act as her conscience too, sorta. My ability is something like that, I give scenarios of how things may play out and my family has to take what they hear and use it as they feel. My hunches are mere suggestions, they are not fact and they are not set in stone.

As I dug through the maps and charts in Carlisle's office, the conversation with Bella played over and over, fresh in my mind. I had given her something to think about; I had struck her conscience and had done so without trying to sway her, but with the only goal of giving her all the facts. Maybe that was my place, oh Bloody Hell I was Jiminy Cricket.

I groaned and slid into Carlisle's thick desk chair, the piles of paper all about. I hoped for a second that if Edward hears that in my thoughts he knows that he is never to tell Emmett, I would never hear the end of it.

I heard the floorboards creak from just outside the room pulling me out of my profile. I knew Carlisle was heading into his office.

I peered over the mounds to look at him, the pile of papers in front of me was nearly my height. Who knew my parents had accumulated this much…crap?

"Christian?" Carlisle asked from the doorway, I grinned a little sheepishly. "Do I dare ask?"

"I was…er." No point in lying "I was looking over the boundary markers I wanted to make sure that the fleabags were wrong."

The insult felt raw on my tongue and wrong to say, the term fleabags should've been comical, it was something my father always called our neighbor's cat who was as mangy and flea-ridden as they come.

But after being called a flea and a leech by Jacob, I knew the once funny term fleabag had joined a list of derogatory terms for the wolves, just as they clearly had some for us vampires.

"Chris I think the adrenaline of the chase had everyone mixed up including the pack. I do not think they would have threatened us deliberately unless they truly felt we were encroaching on their land." Carlisle said gently, he nodded for me to stay in his seat as he took one of the side chairs.

"Which we weren't" I replied, "did Edward tell you-"

"That Jacob Black made an unannounced visit to the high school?" I nodded "yes he did tell me, he also mentioned you had some words with Jacob?"

"Nothing nasty dad, I was just informing him of his mistake." Carlisle groaned a little and I shrugged "anyways it got me thinking that maybe I was wrong on the line and I just wanted to be sure."

Carlisle reached his desk and pulled out one of the maps. My handwriting and his were all over the thing. It was a general map of Washington State; I had marked where certain critters tended to congregate more often, where there was an abundance of those certain critters, that sort of thing. But prior to my markings, Carlisle had drawn territory lines, mainly the Quileute's line and ours.

"Chris, look here is the river, we were near the boundary, but we had not crossed it yet, you know that boundary better than anyone," Carlisle said

"Yeah I know, but being that close to the line, it was possible I made a mistake." I looked at the map closely "I gotta check for myself," I grabbed the map off of Carlisle's desk and made a beeline for the door.

Behind me, Carlisle stood up quickly,

"Christian," he said, a warning tone in his voice

"I'll be careful dad I promise," I replied bolting out of his office, not wanting to wait for him to forbid me to go. I know Carlisle wanted to, but he knows that once I get something in my head, I don't usually let it go.

Emmett was in the family room watching a baseball game, he glanced up as I walked quickly past him.

"Hey kid want-" he started to ask and I shook my head

"Sorry Em, I gotta check something out. Carlisle knows, don't tell Esme though." The last thing I needed was Esme to be panicking; she gets scary when she panics.

"If you don't want mom to know it's got to be something she'd say no to. Don't get do anything I wouldn't do." Em replied chuckling and I forced a grin if only he knew.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I ran as fast as I could through the forest, it's one of my favorite parts about being a vampire, I love the speed I have, it's a great kind of freedom that always makes me feel better.

Dodging trees, bushes, and the occasional animal, leaping over streams and boulders running towards the boundary line, I felt so much weight lifted off my shoulders as I ran faster and faster.

I slowed to a jog when I got closer to the river, not far from the overhang that we had all stopped on while Emmett had kept going. I inched closer to the edge and lowered myself down so I was sitting on the overhang with my feet dangling. I pulled out the map out of my pocket and looked it over carefully. The map was drawn by Carlisle himself in the 30s, after the treaty with the pack. He marked the exact line separating wolf territory and technically Cullen territory, and it was detailed. I hadn't come here with the map in a few decades, and that had just been for my own curiosity.

Now I was studying it to prove I was right and judging by the map and what I was seeing, I was…I was right. The riverbank marked our territory, Emmett had not been on wolf land, Edward was right it was no-man's land, it was the in-between area, the wolves had no claim over it and neither did we.

I grinned victoriously

"Hah, I knew I was right!" I shouted louder than I really meant to. It didn't really matter, who was going to hear me anyway, a few birds and squirrels?

A noise caught my attention and I was on my feet in a second, scanning the forest for the source of the noise.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary, at least not at first, but my sharp senses and my ability zeroed in on a section, just past the river, just over the line in wolf territory.

I could see a dark shape lurking through the trees and I crouched down, sliding back into the woods on the other side. I wouldn't be completely out of sight, and if it was actually a wolf he'd be able to smell me anyways, but I was hoping I would at least have the upper hand.

I felt the emotions before I heard the movement behind me. A mix of surprise and fear and it was not entirely animal…it was a wolf. I tensed up as it came closer, a low growling noise that sent a shiver down my spine. It didn't make any sense, I wasn't remotely near the line, I was in the clear, this wolf was coming up from behind me, and it was coming from our territory.

Slowly I turned around, taking a deep breath as I went. I wasn't sure which wolf I was going to run into. To be honest, I was hoping for Jacob, he'd be the only one of the pack I could reason with.

The wolf that had led the standoff with Emmett, Rose, and I was definitely not one to play fair, I think given the chance he would've killed all three of us. I think we were pretty lucky that their leader Sam kept them all on a pretty short leash, except Jacob really who seemed to do things his own way.

This wolf wasn't Jacob though; I had never seen this particular guy before. His fur was a sandy color and he was definitely younger than the other wolves, almost…to be honest puppy-like. He seemed unsteady on his paws and unsure of what he was doing. He also seemed genuinely surprised to see me, not only that, he was a little terrified.

I think we were both were feeling the same level of fear about each other, both of us were waiting for the other to attack and were sizing the other up. He must have just been allowed out on patrol of the line and caught my scent or heard me acting like an idiot and followed me here. He obviously thought I was a threat and needed to be taken care of, some random vampire that had stumbled into the area.

I put my hands up in surrender and slowly got to my feet, I knew making a sudden move was a bad idea, but my mind was going through all possible scenarios and escape routes, each one worse than the previous.

"I'm not on your land, I swear. I wasn't trying to cross over; I was just checking something out. No harm was intended I promise. I come in peace; I'm Chris Cullen, Dr. Cullen's son. We have a treaty with you guys, we stay off your land, your boundary is over there." My voice was shaking and I tried to calm down,

The wolf got down low and started growling louder than before. I winced a little, my instinct to protect myself was getting stronger, I knew if I had to I would defend myself no matter the cost, but I was really fighting it.

Despite the fact, this guy was clearly a newbie at this whole thing, and despite the fact that I could probably take him down, I didn't want to. I could feel it, he's a kid, not much different than me. I don't really see the other pack members as kids, to me they're barely teenagers, even Jacob I find it hard to see him as a kid, I never get that from the profile, I see them as adults.

It's the same way with my brothers, Emmett and Jasper especially; I have a hard time seeing them as teens, even in school. But I could sense it with this one; he's a kid, my physical age, give or take a year or so. Hell, we could be classmates under different circumstances. He was much smaller than the other wolves and acted different then they did.

Normally my first option would be to bolt, I didn't want to fight this guy, but he was blocking my path, he had me cornered on this cliff. I had other escape options of course, but I didn't want to make a sudden move. The last thing I needed was for him to see any movement on my part as a threat and cast the standoff aside.

Bloody Hell this sucks. I've really got to stop getting myself into crap like this, maybe Bella isn't the trouble magnet maybe I am.

The wolf got lower, he was preparing to pounce I know that body language, I started to back up slowly, he was going to attack. Just as I expected he lunged at me, trying to tackle me to the ground, but I was prepared for something like that so I easily slid to the side to avoid the attack, his attacks were uncoordinated and certainly not thought out, I used that to my advantage with my profile.

The wolf dug his claws into the rocks to stop himself from going over the edge as he tried the move again.

Just as I was prepared to counter his second attack he stopped short. He shook his head like he was trying to get something out of his mind. He started to come at me again and stopped in his tracks again, like something was physically preventing him from attacking me. He was clearly not happy with the new development and let me know with a glare and a snort, before he took off into the woods.

I hit the ground, hyperventilating, finally being able to take a breath, I couldn't stop my body from shaking.

I hated to admit it, but I hadn't been scared like that in a long time. I wasn't sure what stopped the wolf from the continued assault, and I was a little concerned and curious as to why. I was also curious as to why he thought he could attack me when I was clearly away from wolf territory. Did he really not understand when I told him who I was or just not care? I mean I tried to make it clear I wasn't some random vampire in the woods.

It also made me wonder why he was out here in the first place. I hadn't seen him during the whole Victoria fiasco, and if I know real wolves like I do, they typically work in teams or full-on packs to hunt or protect, for a single wolf to be out here alone is weird enough, but the fact he was only a kid. Maybe he had gone rogue and decided to show the others what he could do, bag himself a vampire and prove that he could run with the pack.

Whatever the reason, this encounter made it clear that the woods were no longer divided, at least not technically. Either the pack needed to do some serious retraining with its members or we Cullens needed to be more on our guard when out here. If one was willing to attack me here who's to say the rest wouldn't do the same, what if the boundary lines had been abolished somehow?

Slowly I got to my feet, my body was still shaking and I hated that feeling. I'm a vampire, I'm not supposed to get scared, for cryin' out loud vampires are supposed to be the ones who scare, not get scared.

If I went back home now, everyone would know that something had happened out here, they'd push and prod until I caved and if I didn't, Edward would take care of that when he got home. What would follow than would not be pretty, Esme would be furious at me, but at the same time she'd be fretting over me.

It was Jasper and Emmett who I was most concerned with though. If they found out a wolf attacked me for no reason, they might be likely to return the favor, with everything else going on right now, the last thing we needed was a war to start over this.

No I was better off avoiding home as long as possible, I had to find something else to do, something else to calm me down. I took a deep breath, ocean it is, I'm going swimming, I need to calm down and think things over.


	9. Chapter 9

"What's with Bella?" Marie whispered to me as we headed to lunch. I wasn't entirely sure how to answer Marie's question, Bella had been pretty quiet the past week since Jacob's surprise visit to our school and the events of our weekend tracking turned standoff with the wolves came to light.

Bella was not happy, mainly with Edward. She was determined to be changed sooner than expected and she was not happy that it hadn't happened yet, even after what I had told her.

The positive point was my story made her think, I had hit a nerve and we both knew it, it was the main reason Bella had spent the entire week avoiding me, heck there were times when she couldn't look at me.

Every time I caught her, she looked away quickly, but I saw the tears in her eyes, I'm not an idiot, I know what I had told her was still lingering in her mind. Every time she saw me she thought of what I told her and mainly she thought of her father and how he was going to feel if she up and vanished.

I looked over at Bella, then at Marie and shrugged, as I grabbed a tray for my "lunch", Marie looked at me expectantly

"I don't know," I replied as honestly as I could, "I think she's finally realizing that graduation is around the corner, I'm surprised it hasn't hit the entire senior class yet."

Marie nodded, accepting my answer even though she wasn't really convinced. As we moved through the line, Marie added things to my limited lunch, such as milk, an apple, and a bowl of vegetables, it was all I could do to prevent her from adding the special of the day, meatloaf, at which I made a face. Marie has a habit of trying to make sure I eat, in that sense she is a lot like her mum.

Once we paid for our lunches we headed towards our table. If Bella wanted to avoid me a little longer that was fine, I would give her that, Marie and I would just sit at our usual freshman table.

The guys were deep in discussion planning their trip into Seattle the following day. Apparently Paul's dad won a number of tickets through his work, ten tickets to the Seattle Mariners game versus the Baltimore Orioles. He told Paul to invite four of his friends and their dads to the game and make it a guys' night out, of course, I was included in that, but I'd been hesitant to go.

It had been easy to play on the idea that my oldest brothers were home for the summer and therefore we had planned a camping trip for just the Cullen boys, which translated into, we were going hunting.

My main issue was everything that was happening in Seattle. I was really concerned about the guys going into the city with some psychotic killer running loose, hence my hesitation in flat out saying no to going. Carlisle was, of course, leaving it up to me and was willing to go if I decided we should go.

"Hey, earth to Chris, come in Chris," I heard Steve calling my name, I shook my head and looked over at him, apparently I had been spacing out and I wondered for how long he actually had been calling my name

"Sorry…what?"

"Busy night?" Nick asked grinning "or a late one?"

"Heh," I replied shrugging "not really, just thinking."

"Man I had a heck of a night, I was up to three this morning playing Call of Duty with my cousin, my uncle is stationed in Tokyo right now so they're living over there, it's so cool. I get to go visit them for a week this summer, but we were playing online for hours, I think he even might have missed a class or two." Patrick spoke up and we all rolled our eyes at him, grinning.

"Anyways, Chris are you sure you don't want to go, it's going be awesome, the tickets are right behind the Mariners dugouts, my dad knows this great restaurant that we're going to hit right before the game." Great, a restaurant I thought just wonderful "come on it'll be fun!" Paul prodded,

"Yeah, seriously it's going to be a blast come on!" Nick added, "please, how many times do you get too behind the home team dugout? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you will regret if you miss."

I glanced over at Edward who was only half-listening to the conversation. He obviously knew my conflict and gave me a reassuring grin, shrugging. Of course, I knew his answer, Edward may not admit out loud, but he is a true blue American teenage boy in a lot of ways, one big way is that he loves baseball as much as he loves music, so his decision is based solely on his desire to go to a baseball game and his belief that everyone should go.

My mind flashed to all the news reports about the murders and kidnappings in Seattle, I needed to hunt, that was clear, but I wouldn't be able to enjoy the weekend hunting with my brothers and father if I was thinking about my pals safety.

If Carlisle and I went to the game, we could easily meet Edward, Emmett, and Jasper in Northern California for the Mountain Lion feast later on.

Going to Seattle for this game would serve two purposes, I could keep Steve, Paul, Patrick, and Nick, as well as their dads in my line of sight and therefore safe, and I could get an early scope on what was going on in Seattle, see if I could profile things a bit, enjoying the baseball game was obviously the last thing on my mind, my profile was going to be in mega overdrive.

I took a deep breath, sighed and rolled my eyes,

"Fine, fine, you guys win, let me go call my dad and ask him if he still wants to go, I got to make sure he's not on call tomorrow, I don't think he is, but I have to be sure."

I pushed my chair back and carried my tray to the trash, taking care of that before grabbing my backpack and heading out of the cafeteria to the office to make my phone call.

Inside the office, Mrs. Cope looked as soon as I walked in. She amuses Edward, but she kind of freaks me out, I don't like the way she looks at us Cullen boys, it's creepy.

Today was no exception as she got this look in her eyes when I walked over to her desk. I've never really been able to tell exactly what the look is, some reason it remains hidden from my profile, I do know for a fact that I don't like it and that's enough reason for me.

"Yes, what do you need?"

"I was wondering if I could call my dad."

Mrs. Cope pressed a button on the phone and put it up on the counter for me to dial. I dialed Carlisle's office at the hospital and waited patiently for him to pick up, it took two rings before Carlisle answered. He probably got a little nervous seeing Forks High School on the caller ID, after all, the school doesn't typically call, the last time Carlisle received a phone call from a school, it was to let him know I had gotten detention last year.

"Er, hello?" he said, I could hear his hesitation over the phone and I tried not to laugh, I really didn't blame him. I turned my back to Mrs. Cope and leaned against the desk.

"Hi, Dad,"

"Chris? Hello, is everything okay son?"

"Everything's fine dad, I just had a question."

"Yes?"

"Well, Paul spent a good portion of lunch pestering me, they really want us to go to the game tomorrow and if you're still up for it I was wondering could we go? I mean I'm thinking those guys in the city, who knows what kind of trouble they can get into, I should be there to be a voice of reason."

I laughed it off of course, but I knew Carlisle would get my meaning. I couldn't come out and say I wanted to go to Seattle with my friends so I can make sure they don't get themselves kidnapped or killed, not with Mrs. Cope's eyes boring into my back, but of course, my father understood.

"I'm glad you changed your mind, Chris, I know its not a Cricket match, but you do enjoy baseball thanks to your brothers and from what I've heard, Mr. Cooper has some decent seats."

"So you're okay with going?"

"Of course Chris, it will be fun, we'll talk about it when we get home, how about I pick you up and we can discuss our plans, my shift is over at 2, I'll give Mr. Cooper a call right now and make sure everything is arranged."

I grinned

"Cool, I'll let Edward know." I paused "thanks dad,"

"Anytime son,"

I hung up the phone and handed it back to Mrs. Cope,

"Thanks for letting me use the phone," I said as I headed out of the office and into the hall.

The lunch bell rang and the hordes swarmed the hall, I tried to avoid getting swept up in the mob as I moved down the hall towards my next class. I was about five doors from it when I felt a hand grab my shoulder and pull me off to the side. It was Edward; Bella gave me a quick smile before darting into her own class. I rolled my eyes, she really was avoiding me, quite effectively too.

"So going to the game tomorrow?" Edward asked grinning, he, of course, knew my real reason for going to the game so I rolled my eyes at him.

"As a matter of fact yeah, good seats, good friends."

"The chance to profile?"

"That's beside the point, you're just jealous that you're not going to the Mariners game."

"Yeah, the way they play I think I'd rather deal with the mountain lions." Edward paused "is dad picking you up?"

I nodded

"Yeah, figured I'd give you and Bella a chance to talk," Edward gave me a gently shove which I expected and I easily returned. "so dad and I will go to the game and then we'll just catch up with you guys for the campout."

Edward nodded,

"Sounds like a plan Chris," he paused and lowered his voice, in the hum of the crowd, only someone with vampire hearing could hear. "I didn't get a chance to thank you,"

For what? I thought

"For what you said to Bella, I know it couldn't have been easy for you to open up to her on something like that Chris and I am very glad you talked to her."

Didn't do much, she's still pretty adamant about it happening as soon as possible. If you haven't noticed that is.

"I did notice, but regardless you obviously impacted her, you gave her something to think about. And I owe you, Chris."

I grinned

"And I'll figure out a way for you to pay me back."

Edward shoved me and followed Bella into their class. I rolled my eyes again and started to head towards my own, just across the hall from theirs when I heard my name being called, followed by quick-moving footsteps, the huffing sounded familiar. I turned and grinned as Paul came running down the hall,

"Chris wait up!" he called skidding to a stop in front of me he took a deep breath obviously trying to catch his breath from the short run that had tired him out "tha…nks, so did you talk to your dad?"

My grin widened as I chuckled at my friend

"Yes I did, he's game, he's actually looking forward the game, he's going to call your dad right now and figure everything out."

Paul grinned

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, "a completely guys only night."

"The calm before the storm of the dance?" I asked grinning

"Dude, that whole thing is going to be its own kind of special hell. It's going to suck so bad."

I shrugged

"Might not be so bad, I mean seriously how bad could it be?"

"Chris, I have a little sister who is obsessed with High School Musical and an older sister who has seen Footloose more times than I can count, trust me I know what we're in for and might not be so bad is the understatement of the century. It's going to be pure hell."

We walked into the health class, the girls were in their usual spot up front, Steve, Patrick, and Nick were in our spot in the back of the room. Mrs. Cochran doesn't have assigned seats in the class; she lets us sit wherever we want as long as we don't make her regret it.

The bell hadn't rung yet and Nick, Patrick, and Steve were chuckling in the back, no one else in the room could've heard the conversation that was occurring back there.

"That has got to be the grossest thing in the world." Patrick whispered to Steve and Nick "I mean, why the heck would she show us that right after lunch, it's nasty."

"How the heck are girls not green? I mean look at them, have they even noticed it?" Steve asked Patrick and Nick shrugged their answer.

I looked up at the board where on the projector Mrs. Cochran had a really nasty picture of a set of human lungs that had obviously belonged to a smoker. I made a face, that was nasty all right.

"Speaking of hell," I said to Paul nodding at the image "I'm thinking that person was either a smoker or spent a lot of time playing poker games with the devil in hell."

Paul burst out laughing and Mrs. Cochran looked up at us from her desk, her eyes narrowing, obviously not pleased with what I had just said either that or she just figured Paul was laughing at something I had said and figured it was inappropriate .

"Boys, I do expect a certain level of maturity. You will sophomores next year, I expect you to act like it, lung disease is a very serious issue that I do not find very funny, now take your seats before I arrange for those seats to be closer to the front."

"Sorry Mrs. Cochran," we muttered in unison, exchanging a look as we headed to our seats in the back.

The girls all kind of looked at us and grinned, before giggling to themselves, Mrs. Cochran paid them no mind which in the back of my mind didn't seem all that fair. Mrs. Cochran started writing the notes on the board as I took my seat in between Patrick and Nick, both of them exchanged a look with Steve before all three began grinning ear to ear.

"So, what did you say to get on Cochran's 'don't make me move you to the front of the room' threat?" Patrick asked and I shrugged

"I simply stated a fact, it's not my fault she thinks I'm being facetious." I explained pulling out my notebook. The guys all grinned and began to laugh, just quiet enough that Mrs. Cochran wouldn't hear.

As Mrs. Cochran began her lecture on the damage smoking can cause, the discussion in our area was back on the baseball game.

"So Chris did you call your dad?" Nick asked and I nodded "what he say?"

"He's looking forward to it, so he's glad I changed my mind."

"You know I was thinking," Paul spoke up

"Uh oh," Nick, Steve, Patrick, and I all whispered

"shuddup," Paul shot back before continuing "Chris is your dad going to drive?"

I shrugged

"Dunno maybe, he was calling your dad to I guess arrange everything. Why?"

"Well here's the thing, there's ten of us total going right? Between us and our dads, so logically there's going to have to be at least two cars involved."

"Right, but again what does this have to do with my dad driving?" I asked even though I knew exactly where Paul was going,

"Dude, you're dad drives a Mercedes Benz, an S55 right?" Patrick replied, of course, I knew what kind of car Carlisle drove, but I had to keep up appearances like I wasn't sure what the style of car my father drove had to do with anything.

"Yeah, why?"

"Come on your dad has to be one of the drivers; his car is so sick man!" Steve exclaimed, probably louder then he meant too, luckily Mrs. Cochran was answering a question from someone upfront, even still I gently elbowed him reminding him to keep it down.

I had no desire to be in the front of the room; when your last name starts with a C, being in the front of the room tends to be a going trend and its nice to have a change of pace.

"I think what loud mouth means is, it'll be cool to drive into the city in a Mercedes, rolling into Seattle in style; do you think your dad will be willing to drive?"

"Probably, I'll ask him, but keep in mind he can only fit four people besides himself in the car, it's a car, not a minivan," I added, in the back of my mind I wondered what their reaction would be if they saw Edward's other car, the Aston Martin or the Porche that Edward had purchased for Alice and had it safely in storage until the time was right to give it to her.

The reaction that my friends would've given over those two cars would've been hilarious, especially if they thought the Mercedes was the high end of cars in the Cullen household, if only they knew the truth.

Patrick got this look in his eyes, a moment of realization

"You know what we should do? We drive in with Dr. Cullen and our dads go in with Mr. Cooper," Patrick whispered as loud as he dared "Chris, ask your dad, please? Please?" he practically begged me and the others were no better, they too looked at me like little puppies waiting for a treat.

"You guys are pathetic you know that?" I replied grinning evilly

"Pathetic with impeccable taste in cars." Nick defended quickly before Mrs. Cochran shot a look towards us.

Instantly we all were writing in our notebooks, but I could see the wheels turning in my friends' heads the prospect of riding in a Mercedes just made the game that much cooler. I chuckled to myself, my friends were insane, certifiable even, but I had to admit, they were certainly some of the best friends I'd had in a long time, in reality, the only human friends I've have since 1940.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So note about the previous chapter. Some of you guys guessed it was Seth and yes you guys were right, but some of you were wondering why Seth would attack like that. There was nothing is wrong with Seth, he was a little full of himself and decided to try his own paw so to speak at patrolling, Chris was near enough to the line that Seth decided to freak him out a little to get the "leech" away from the line, he got a little too into the whole thing. Sam called him back before he could do something well, dumb. Believe me I c, Seth got the lecture from hell by Sam. It was more over the fact that Seth sneaked out and went to the line, rather than the fact he "attacked" one of the Cullens.


	10. Chapter 10

By the time school ended, the guys were acting like Carlisle had agreed to drive us all. I knew he wouldn't have a problem, but it was still kind of funny.

As the last bell ended, I bid goodbye to my friends and made a mad dash for Carlisle's car, which was parked at the curb, just behind the buses.

I sighed with relief once I was safe and sound in my father's car; he chuckled a bit as he put the car into drive and carefully moved towards the exit.

"Sup dad?" I asked, grinning. Carlisle turned onto the highway and looked over at me, trying not to laugh.

"Not much son, not much, I do appreciate the phone call this afternoon and the fact that it did not involve you getting detention."

"All you had to do was pick me up from that, I'm the one that was stuck with Jones for an extra hour and a half."

"You seem to forget that was only a week or so before the first session of Parent-Teacher conferences, it was not the way I hoped to meet one of your teachers." Carlisle countered smoothly; he wasn't mad though, he was clearly amused. "So, Chris, what changed your mind about the game? Last I checked you seemed very adamant about not going."

I shrugged

"Dunno, I guess it was all the talk from the guys, it really got me thinking about their safety. They were talking about hitting the town, scoping out spots to go back to during the summer. Nick is getting his license over the summer so they're hoping he's going to be the driver."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow, obviously confused

"His license, isn't Nick fifteen?"

I shook my head

"He's actually turning sixteen in July, I guess he was really sick right before he started kindergarten and his parents decided to wait a year before sending him. You'd never guess it though; he looks like he's only fourteen. I mean the positive note is that he can't legally drive us for six months, but that seriously isn't going to be the thing that stops this road-trip. Mainly because of his older brother Grif, he's living in Seattle; he's a junior at the University of Washington and has already offered up his apartment for the group to stay a few days. I'm hoping this whole thing is over by the time summer gets going, but it'll make me feel a heck of a lot better knowing those guys aren't going to get swept up in it." I paused and reached into my backpack, pulling out the rolled-up newspaper I'd found in the recycle bin, probably left by a teacher or a student checking sports stats, but it was the story on the front that had caught my attention. "Did you see this morning's paper?"

Carlisle is usually right on top of the news from all over the world, he has subscriptions to at least fifty of the world's top newspapers, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, London Post, and more importantly at least right now, the Seattle Times, not exactly hardcore reporting, but important in its own right. I hadn't seen any of the papers that morning and had assumed he was picking them up at work, but I didn't see any in the car.

"No, I did not, at least not from the Seattle Times, something about a delay in production for today's issue."

"Doesn't really matter, this is from yesterday, but it'll serve the same purpose." I unrolled the paper and held it up so he could see the front page, the youngest victim to go missing so far, a sixteen-year-old boy. Here on the front page was a kid not much older than my friends at school, a kid who could've been any of my classmates for that matter.

Carlisle took a deep breath and sighed, the whole situation in Seattle had all of us on edge, but my father especially, he knew we were running out of options on how to handle it. If it was really one of our kind, it was eventually going to boil over to the point where we had no choice but to get involved, we couldn't let it go on like this so close to our territory.

Getting involved could mean a fight, something my father would avoid so as long as it did not put our family or our human neighbors in danger, not getting involved meant eventual exposure, which meant a death sentence from the Volturi.

"I know you want to protect your friends Chris, and believe me I do as well, but there is only so much we can do, we cannot force people to live in a bubble. Nor can we interfere in their lives even when we know they are making the wrong choice." Carlisle paused as we turned onto our drive, "I know it isn't something you want to think about Christian, but eventually we will leave Forks and with it your friends. Were you satisfied with how they coped after we left in September?"

I nodded

"For the most part, but in a way that was different. I made sure from day one that when the time came for us to move on, there would be no clinging. My friends would move on as well, they would grow up, remember me as a just a good friend, and have their own lives, even coming back now I know that is still the same." I took a deep breath, slipping my Dartmouth hat with the Moose mascot on it, off and put it on the center armrest, it had come in with Edward's acceptance letter a few days ago.

We had reached the house now, Carlisle pulling slowly into the garage next to Esme's Audi.

"But?" Carlisle prodded gently

"But if this whole thing turns out to be one of our kind…then I want to make sure that my friends are safe from at least that, at this time. I can't sit back and know that I could've protected them at least for now, and not do so."

Carlisle picked up my hat and put it back on my head, pushing the brim down so it went over my eyes.

"And I'm not suggesting that you do that Chris. We will go to Seattle; one of us will try and enjoy the game while the other does what he is best at, protecting and looking out for everyone."

I grinned,

"Well, the one that will be enjoying the game also has another job to do," I said casually sliding out of the car.

"And what's that?" Carlisle asked suspiciously as he followed me to the door that leads into the kitchen.

"Apparently you've been drafted to be the driver," I replied grinning

"I beg your pardon?"

"When I told the guys we were going, they all unanimously decided that Dr. Cullen's Mercedes was the perfect ride to take into Seattle."

"Wonderful," Carlisle said shaking his head, chuckling a bit "I don't suppose you boys will be riding with Mr. Cooper?"

"Nope, in the 'cedes."

"What's this about the Mercedes and Seattle?" Esme asked as she greeted us inside. She hugged and kissed Carlisle, before reaching over and hugging me tight, kissing the top of my head.

"Chris decided that he wants to go to the baseball game tomorrow night and apparently his little motley crew of friends has nominated me to drive them," Carlisle replied chuckling, he moved into the hallway and Esme and I followed, he took off his jacket and hung it up in the closet and I did the same.

"I thought you didn't want to go Chris?" Esme asked taking my hat off my head and hanging it up next to my jacket, she has this thing with hats in the house.

Normally I would jet upstairs to my room, say hi to Chap, and maybe watch a few movies, but Esme wanted to talk for a moment, that much was obvious and I wasn't about to argue with her.

I shrugged

"Changed my mind?" I offered and Esme narrowed her eyes, looking at me expectantly, leading Carlisle and me into the family room.

I half expected Emmett and Jasper to have invaded the room for the TV, but they were nowhere to be found, the TV was off and the radio was on, Esme must have been enjoying a quiet afternoon with no one home. I looked at my mother, curious as to my brothers' whereabouts,

"They went to go check on Alice's Porsche."

I rolled my eyes

"Why is Edward even bothering to hide it in storage? I mean Alice already knows its coming, it's impossible to keep anything from her." I asked

"That is Edward's decision, let him have his fun." Esme replied, "he's waiting for the best time to give it to her."

We made ourselves comfortable in the family room, Esme and Carlisle to the love seat, me to my favorite chair, the TV stayed off.

Esme reached over and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"So what changed your mind?"

"My idiot friends?" I replied grinning

"Apparently the boys want to go to the game for reasons other than just America's favorite pastime. They're planning a visit to Seattle during the summer and are hoping to find some, what's a good word for it, Chris?"

"Happening places?" I guessed

"Yes, that works, regardless; Chris is a little worried about them."

"They want to have a good time this summer in Seattle, which during a normal summer I'd be fine with, a city is a city and it's never going to be 100% safe, but it's safer normally. This summer is different, it's not

"Understandable, every once in awhile the news mentions it, but it is certainly becoming more often." Esme paused looking at both of us sternly "While I was in town today, picking up some things for the graduation party, I overheard some of the parents talking. Do you know that Mrs. Newton and Mrs. Crowley have forbidden Mike and Tyler to go to Seattle until this whole thing is over?"

"Bella's friends?" I asked and Esme nodded

"It would seem that they were planning on going into Seattle this weekend, a trip which of course has been put on hold."

I exchanged a look with Carlisle, I didn't know that and I wondered if my father had. It made me even more nervous to know that it had reached the point where people in Forks knew something was wrong in Seattle and even worse, were preventing each other from going there.

It made me wonder, how much longer it would be before…if it was one of our kind, then god forbid, the Volturi got involved. I wouldn't be surprised if they were already planning to send scouts or something just to investigate a little. My only hope was that Alice would see that coming first and that would allow us to act on it if need be.

The one good thing about my friends going, even if I had decided not to go was that they wouldn't be alone, they wouldn't be and can't be adult-less, (if that's even a word, I don't think it is, but it gets the point across).

Mike and Tyler, in all reality they're adults, whether that's mentally or not is another story, but they could go into Seattle if they want without a parent going with them. Clearly Mike's mum and Tyler's mum had a say in the situation, but neither guy needs their mum to drive them into the city.

It's different with my friends, fourteen, fifteen-year-old kids with one sixteen years old who still won't be able to drive them anywhere for six months. They have to stick by an adult inside the city, they have no choice, that's their ride home for one thing and for another, my friends may talk tough, but they are still kids and will act like it when the time comes, IE staying close to an adult.

If they manage to get into Seattle this summer and all this crap is still going on, who's going to look out for them? I mean I'm sure Nick's brother isn't going to let anything happen to them, but how is he going to keep four teenagers from doing something stupid in a big city. He's not their babysitter.

My mind flashed to the newspaper article and the kid that had recently gone missing, he could've been just like Nick, Steve, Patrick, or even Paul, hell he could've been me and who knew what he was doing now, was he alive, was he dead, who the hell knew?

"I know I can't protect them from the world, and certainly not forever, but they are my friends and I can look out for them, at least for a while." I paused and took a deep breath. "And spend as much time as I possibly can trying to convince them not to go to Seattle over the summer."

"Chris sweetie it is times like this, I wish you would listen to yourself."

I raised an eyebrow at Esme

"Huh?"

"Chris every once in a while you slip back into the bad habit of pretending you prefer to let nature take its course, separating yourself from the situation and the feelings that come with that something I thought was over with decades ago. But then you seem to unintentionally correct yourself. You just did that." Esme pulled me over to the loveseat and planted me in between her and Carlisle, she hugged my shoulders tight, "you are not separate from the situation, you are a part of it, you have a say in how things will play out and more importantly, you have an emotional connection, we all do."

I sighed

"I've let myself become to close to everyone here haven't I?"

Carlisle and Esme looked at one another, then at me with a look that made me shrink back a little.

"Christian Aiden Cullen, that is exactly what I'm talking about." Esme reprimanded, "Why are you questioning that? You have made friends, very close friends I might add, with a group of children with whom you have a lot in common. You may not see how that has affected you, but we can see it, it has been a wonderful thing to see you letting people other than us in. Your attitude has dramatically changed, you are acting like the kid you should be and we couldn't be happier."

She was right of course at least on one aspect, I didn't see any changes in myself, profiling myself is not part of the ability, I profile others and environments, it is impossible to profile myself, at least, I've never tried.

It got me thinking, would the old Chris have opened up to Bella as I had, would I have allowed myself the vulnerability that comes with telling Bella my sob story?

There was also the bigger picture to consider, I knew how I acted around Marie and her group of friends, I felt comfortable with them enough to be kind of be myself, something I hadn't done at school since I was human.

But to me that was like a chicken or the egg question, was I more comfortable with my friends at school because I felt more comfortable around Bella, was she somehow changing my attitude towards everything? Or was it the other way around; was I more comfortable around Bella because of the effect my friends were having on me?

I mean I was courteous to my classmates, starting when I met them in sixth grade, but I never went out of my way to be overly friendly, the occasional hi or what's up was passed around and sometimes I would pair up with one of them for an assignment. But I didn't instigate the grouping, it was all on them, now that I'm thing back, it was really Sarah and Nick, they were the first ones to kind of approach me in sixth grade, Marie did too, but she is so painfully shy it took her a while to talk to me, it involved Sarah dragging her up to ask me question about an assignment.

But that was back then, none of what I was experiencing now was even in the same description of then. It really started snowballing last year, last spring to be specific before I had even met Bella. So maybe Bella had nothing to do with my perception, maybe it was just a coincidence. I'm not big on relying on coincidences or believing everything happens for a mythical reason. My ability allows me to see how things will occur, triggers so to speak, I rely on the facts that my ability tells me, not basing everything on faith and coincident.

I see body language and it tells me everything I need to know about a person or an environment. It's like this, if I see a root sticking out of the ground on a walking path and I get a look at five people who will walk that path, I can easily figure out just by body language alone, which one of those five will trip over that root. Those are facts and are all pieces of the puzzle I use to come to my conclusions.

So without Bella in the puzzle I was left with a burning question, was it my friends changing my attitude or was I changing myself, was there really a reason for my new outlook?

I didn't know how to answer my own question and it was a good one too. But asking it aloud might bring another reprimand from Esme so I kept my question to myself. I simply nodded my acceptance at what she had just said, it's safer then arguing with her.

"Sorry Mum," I said, apologizing doesn't hurt either.

"Don't apologize Christian; just keep in mind what I just said."

"I will,"

Carlisle cleared his throat; he had been letting Esme handle this discussion because it was something she felt very strongly about. Carlisle understood my reasoning as well as Esme's, but spouse overrules the youngest child each time in this kind of thing, he agreed with everything Esme was saying.

"Chris, how about you and I go hunting?" he asked and Esme nodded her approval "it looks like you're getting close to needing it, might make things easier tomorrow at the game if you're concentrating on your profile and not the coming mountain lions."

I grinned at that and laughed as Esme and Carlisle joined me. I looked at my father mischievously

"So, the first one to take down Bambi?" I asked innocently, Carlisle rolled his eyes, he does not get involved in bets like my brothers and I do. If anything Carlisle sits back and just shakes his head at us.

"Chris, do I look like Emmett to you?"

"Occasionally," I replied, "once in a while you get this look in your eyes that is a dead ringer for Emmett." My grin widened as Carlisle stood up.

"Let's go, Chris," he replied chuckling, pulling me up by the collar of my shirt.

XXXX

Carlisle and I don't get to hunt together just the two of us very often. It tends to be me with my brothers or sisters, or sometimes just him and Esme, but rarely just us. It's amazing how similar we are, I mean given the fact that my father is nearly three hundred years older than me and the fact we're not biologically father and son, we could easily be father and son.

If you want to get technical, the moment Carlisle bit me, injecting the venom into my bloodstream we became father and son literally and psychologically, it's weird to think about, but the vampire who bit Carlisle and turned him, is for all intents and purposes, my grandfather, mine, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, and even Esme, without him Carlisle wouldn't have been turned, and neither would any of us.

I like science and medical stuff, but that thought really weird's me out, so I try to avoid the technicalities associated with my vampiric DNA, not only that, but it gives me the vampire equivalent to a migraine.

I'm getting off-topic there, it's not the point, the point is that of everyone in the family, it's Carlisle who I relate to the easiest, who I'm the most like. Carlisle even told me once that I remind him of himself when he was a kid or a young teen. I may look up to my brothers and sisters, I may even act like them at some points or enjoy similar activities, but it's with Carlisle who I share a similar personality with. There are even some times when we think alike, except of course when it comes to fighting.

Carlisle is very much a pacifist, he'd rather see his own life in danger then put someone else in harm's way no matter the reason, he's the perfect definition of a doctor, the whole Hippocratic oath rolled into one man. I'm not like Emmett where I jump into a fight as if it's the only option, but if my profile gives me a reason to fight or I see it as the only logical option, I will side with Emmett each time. Many underestimate me because of my size, but I can fight with the best of them. But I see Carlisle's feelings on the matter of fighting and at times I do agree with him.

But I love spending one on one time with my father, especially outside. I feel so free when I can just run through the woods as fast as I can, with nothing holding me back.

I dodged a fallen tree and hopped over another as I felt Carlisle right behind me. I'm easily the fastest in the family, but my father was keeping pace with me as we followed a herd of deer deeper into the woods, waiting for the right time to pounce.

As much as I love being in the forest and as much as I need to hunt, being able to sense animal emotions makes hunting less enjoyable for me. I wish I could enjoy it as my siblings do, but unless I really concentrate on ignoring the fear, pain, confusion, and sometimes rage that I get bombarded with, I can't enjoy it, I'm so focused on maintaining control of the emotions that I go kind of on autopilot with the hunt.

Hunting with Jasper always goes a lot smoother for me. He manages to counter nearly any emotions getting thrown my way, especially the violent ones from predators. He focuses on my emotions leaving me with a full sense of calm and clarity as I hunt. It really helps when Emmett goes for the bears, which I enjoy, but rarely get because of how nasty they can get, especially after they've been agitated by Emmett.

Prior to Alice and Jasper joining the family, there were actually times hunting with Emmett, where I had to leave the area because as he enraged the bear to the point where it was a good wrestling opponent I would be nailed with that bears emotions, getting more and more angry with my brother until my choice was either leave the area or attack my brother.

Amazingly though, Carlisle without any special abilities can do the same thing at least with me. Like the father he really is, Carlisle can see when something isn't right with each one of us, so if he sees me getting agitated when we're hunting, he knows the source isn't me, it's whatever animal is in the area.

Carlisle can usually get me calmed down enough to help me focus the emotions pushing them into more manageable solutions. Aside from Jasper, when it comes to the emotions bombarding me and basically pushing me underwater, Carlisle is the only one who can pull me out quickly. Esme is usually the first one there to calm me down and comfort me, but it's Carlisle who gets me to Esme at least in the emotional sense.

So as we neared the herd of deer, the emotions began to get stronger, including one emotion that didn't really fit with the herd of deer, a feeling of anger, something nearby was not only territorial but was very hungry. We were not the only predators hunting in the woods tonight. In the distance I could make out a shape of a mountain lion, it was slowly making its way to the herd, stalking. It must have detected our presence, because it was not a happy cat, believing that it now had competition and it was not giving up that herd without a fight, especially not to some new creatures it didn't recognize.

Carlisle and I had two choices here, we could either allow the cat to get the herd first and then we track them further into the woods, which wouldn't be a problem, or one of us take out the cat while the other goes for the herd. We exchanged a look and he gestured towards the cat's scent, I nodded my answer, Carlisle knows me well enough to understand my nod, he was giving me the cat if I wanted it, he would take the deer. I guess he figured I needed to hunt more than he did, hence why I was getting the predator. I was grateful for it though; I could take the lion down swiftly and still keep most of the herd on a fairly calm level while Carlisle went for them.

We split up as I headed up the hill, behind the lion, it wouldn't smell me from this direction until it was to late. I could feel its emotions, it was cocky, it thought it had scared off the competition; boy was this hairball in for a big surprise. My throat began to burn a little as a thirst that hadn't been there a few minutes prior, suddenly sprang up with the prospect of the hunt. I focused my thoughts on the herd of deer, trying to keep them as calm as possible, giving Carlisle the chance to take one down quickly.

The rest of the herd scrambled and I shifted my concentration into the mountain lion, it was stunned for a second as the herd ran off in all directions and it wasn't sure which one to follow. Of course, the cat didn't have time to finish his contemplation, as I pounced on him from behind incapacitating him and extinguishing the fire in my throat, feeling so much better instantly, I guess Carlisle had been right, I did need to hunt; he really does amaze me sometimes.

XXX


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, Carlisle picked me up from school again; luckily we had a half-day considering the game was at seven it worked out perfectly. But in all honesty, the group of us was pretty lucky to make it out of school for the day. Paul had nearly gotten us all in trouble, he wouldn't shut up about the game and the rest of us were blamed by association.

Luckily, the teachers were in a good mood or something (I think it being a half-day on a Friday with a beautiful yet cloudy late spring weekend ahead, helped too), so we weren't kept after, just let off with a strongly worded warning. Anyways it was a relief when the bell finally rang and I could bolt to my father's waiting car.

As I slid into the passenger seat, I glanced casually over at my father and burst out laughing. He was apparently ready for the game, deciding to deck himself out in full baseball attire, he was wearing an authentic Red Sox jersey and an old-style baseball cap that I'm pretty sure he bought when we went to Cooperstown about ten years back.

Carlisle loves baseball, he has since its beginning, it's sometimes hard to tell who's the bigger fan, Emmett, Carlisle, Jasper, or Edward, I swear they're all evenly matched, to a near obsession point, especially Carlisle and Emmett.

Carlisle hid it well, but he was disappointed when I said I wasn't really up for the Mariners game, of course, he was ecstatic when I changed my mind. I can take baseball or leave it, I do like sports and baseball definitely fall under that category, and yes I like playing baseball with my family, but participating in it and watching others play it are two entirely different things.

Regardless, my father loves the game, when we went to Cooperstown, New York for the Baseball Hall of Fame, him and my brothers were in their glory. I mean don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, it was after all a museum and I love museums and it was sports, two of my favorite things. It was cool to see the history associated with the game of baseball, Emmett has definitely done a number on converting me to be minimal baseball enthusiast, but I am nowhere near my father and brothers, we were at that museum from the time it opened to the time it closed, the staff actually had to kick us out.

I shouldn't have been surprised by my father's attire, given his obsession, but I was trying to avoid pointing out the obvious, we were going to a Mariners Vs, Orioles game, I wasn't really sure where the Red Sox factored into this equation.

I mean, my father was going to stick out like a…well like a Red Sox fan at a Yankee game (see I do know baseball, I know that those two teams are long-standing rivals and have history, Curse of the Bambino against the Red Sox that was broken in 2004, a curse that started with a goat? Oh wait, wrong curse, that's the Cubs and that particular curse is still in play) sorry off-topic, anyways I couldn't help the snickers that escaped me, which was quickly turning into flat out laughter.

The random Red Sox gear was only part of it, he literally looked hilarious, he was wearing the jersey over his dress shirt and under his jacket, and was still wearing his work slacks and loafers. I really had to wonder if he had seriously gone dressed like that all day and I was pretty sure he had.

As we pulled out onto the main highway, my laughter still going strong as I struggled to hold it back, Carlisle looked over at me expectantly. Did he really expect seriousness from me of all people, especially when he looked like that?

"Are you quite finished?" he asked, trying to maintain a serious face, but I could read him, he was so far from serious it was comical.

"Perhaps," I replied grinning "so…dad, a wee bit excited are we?" I used a tone my human mother used all the time when I supposedly gave her gray hairs because of my inability to sit still. I think it's a parental thing because Esme and Carlisle use it with me too.

"I'm still dumbfounded that you aren't," was my father's answer

I shrugged

"one it's baseball, two it's the Marlins against Baltimore, I have very little expectations tonight. Which leads me to my own question, you do realize you got the wrong B city right?" I asked gesturing to his outfit and he gave me a look that was a mix of annoyance and humor.

"It is possible to go to a baseball game and not be a fan of either team, just going to the game in itself is supposed to be fun," Carlisle replied.

"Peanuts and crackerjacks and the whole lot of it?" I asked

"Wouldn't be baseball without them." Was his reply

I grinned wider, he knew, of course, I was only kidding with my teasing, I was excited about the game regardless of the teams playing, I'm just better at not showing my excitement and it's more fun to pretend I'm not excited and annoy.

As soon as we pulled into our garage, I knew I was trouble though and that feeling did not diminish as we walked into the house.

Emmett was waiting at the door, a look on his face that was a perfect mix of jealously and mischievous, a look I have learned to fear.

"Well, well, well, Little Brother." He started, throwing a giant arm around my shoulders "I'm a little disappointed in you."

"Oh?" I asked, even though I knew exactly where this conversation was going

"You really had to think about going to the baseball game? Not only is it a free game, but kid you're right behind the home team dugout! That's a no brainer. I thought we raised you better than that." Emmett pretended to dab at his eyes, in mock hurt and I could only roll mine as I tugged off my jacket, hanging it on the coat hook.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?"

"Nope," Jasper replied from the couch.

"It's Un-American to not want to go watch the national past time." Emmett continued with his lecture. He was really laying it on thick, in all good humor of course.

I wondered for a second why he hadn't commented on Carlisle's attire, Emmett absolutely HATES the Red Sox, it's one of the only things him and Carlisle disagree with as far as sports go, Emmett full heartily supports the Yankees, the supposedly Evil Empire? I've never been able to figure out what baseball and Star Wars have in common though. Emmett should've had at least some random Red Sox comment by now.

Carlisle had moved into the kitchen and was hugging Esme, as the two of them watched Emmett and I banter each other, from the doorway.

"You do realize I'm not American right? I am therefore not constricted to certain norms you Americans deem appropriate, such as having a fondness for baseball." I was really trying not to laugh at this point, but Emmett couldn't see it, I think he was the only one because I could hear snickering coming from Jasper.

"In theory there smart-alec" I seriously could tell he wanted to use another word, but wouldn't on account of Esme "neither is Carlisle, so try another excuse."

"Baseball is just a rip off of cricket, which is older, a more exciting game, and played by more people then baseball could ever hope."

"If baseball is a rip off of cricket, it's because cricket is so lame, it needed something to liven it up. It needed American ingenuity to perfect it."

"Ah hah!" I exclaimed, "so you admit you wouldn't have baseball if it wasn't for cricket?" I looked at Emmett expectantly; he was just about to reply when Esme decided enough was enough.

"Okay, you two that is quite enough out of the both of you. I think we have fulfilled our daily quota of Christian and Emmett arguing over baseball and cricket for the day, don't you think?"

"Yes mum," we both mumbled hanging our hands. Esme wasn't mad at us in the least, she was amused as was Jasper and Carlisle. She usually lets us have a go for a few minutes or so before she'll put an end to our arguing.

"Truce?" I asked, holding out my hand "for now at least?"

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah," Emmett replied "truce for now," we shook on the matter, and Emmett gave me a gentle shove. I saw it coming of course, but I chose not to react, I figured let him have his fun.

"Chris, you might want to go put your things away, we're meeting at the Coopers' in about twenty minutes," Carlisle spoke up, he held up his wrist and pointed at his watch.

"You need to change too Dr. Cullen," Esme added, giving him a look "I need to iron some things and those clothes of yours are on my list."

Carlisle grinned at her like a little kid and kissed her cheek, before heading to his and her room.

Now Esme turned her look on me and I shrugged, grinning my own childish grin, before bolting up the stairs to my room.

Chaplin went into a fit of squeaks and squeals as soon as I opened the door, begging to be released. I sighed, he was going to have a bloody meltdown if I didn't let him out for a little bit, so I undid the latch on his cage and freed the rat. It wasn't even the point of freedom in Chap's mind, it was the principle of the thing, he wanted the door to his cage open so he could have the satisfaction of leaving if he wanted too. I had proof of this when he took a look at the open door and decided to go back to his salt wheel for another go at it.

I rolled my eyes at my rat, and left the door open if he wanted out he could come out on his own. While he debated this freedom, I went to my closet to begin digging. I hadn't been to a major league baseball game in years, so I really had to dig deep in the back of my closet for my box of baseball stuff.

Despite all my talk, I do like baseball, I love playing it with my family, I enjoy watching it on TV, egging my brothers into arguments over their favorite teams. It's just more fun to annoy my brothers and father, by pretending I could care less about the sport the four of them love.

The first thing surprisingly I found was my glove. When we play, we don't use gloves, but I used it the last time I went to a professional game, it would look really weird for me to catch a high fly foul ball with my bare hand, so I bought the baseball glove, just in case.

While my glove was easy to find, it was my collection of hats that proved to be the most problematic. In the baseball box alone I've got tons of hats, but I couldn't find the specific hat I was looking for, I have an Orioles hat, believe it or not, don't ask me why though.

I thought it would be funny if I showed up at the game wearing the visiting team's colors, and trust me I'm not an Orioles fan, I just like to instigate whenever possible. Considering my father was going to the same game I was only wearing the uniform of a team that wasn't even playing on this side of the country tonight, I think I was justified, at least I was at the right game.

It took some extra digging, but I finally found it at the bottom of the box, piled under an extra twenty or so hats, some doubles, but most representing the other teams in the MLB. It was also pretty clear I hadn't worn the hat in decades, it at all.

I tossed it and my glove onto my window seat, before climbing to my feet to get my Surrey jersey off its hanger. I was going to this game in my own style.

"Oh hell no!" Emmett exclaimed from my doorway. I had been so absorbed in finding the damn hat; I had completely ignored my profile that he was coming up. He moved over to my window seat and held my hat up like it carried the plague. "There is no way in hell you are wearing this…or that!" he added pointing at the cricket jersey in my hand.

I grinned wide

"it's all I got Em unless you prefer I wear this?" I reached back into the box and pulled out my own Red Sox hat and tee-shirt that Carlisle had given me years and years ago when we lived in Western Massachusetts for a brief time.

The horrified look on Em's face was hilarious, he quickly shook his head and clutched at his chest and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Since I joined the family, both Emmett and Carlisle have tried to get me to take sides on their baseball rivalry. It's one of the only times Carlisle and Emmett get competitive with each other because that's really not in my father's nature, but they are both very passionate about this thing. I may like baseball more then I admit, but I don't have a team I follow religiously, like Emmett with the Yankees, Carlisle with the Red Sox, or even Edward for the Cubs and Jasper who is a huge fan of the Dodgers. He's followed that team from its time as the Brooklyn Dodgers to the move to their current home of LA.

"I guess it's a good thing I ordered this," Emmett spoke up, apparently getting over his near heart attack. I could only imagine what he was holding behind his back. It could be anything with my brother and fear is a gross understatement.

After a few seconds of dramatic pause, he slowly held up his surprise, a Mariners jersey, complete with hat.

"Oh brother," I sighed

"I think I got your size." Emmett kept going, I was a little stunned that it wasn't Yankee related. He looked at my confused face and shrugged "have to support the home team, when in Seattle. Just remember you'd be wearing Yankee colors-"

"Or lack thereof" I interrupted grinning, but he continued as if he hadn't heard me, or was just ignoring me really well.

"-If they were playing against the Mariners." With that, Emmett pulled my sweatshirt off and slipped the jersey over my head.

I was practically swimming in the thing it was so big, I pulled the collar around to see the size, the shirt went down to my knees and sagged off my shoulders. I looked like a little kid trying on a baseball player's uniform.

"Dude!" I exclaimed, "this thing is bloody huge, what is it?" I finally grabbed the tag, it was a 2XL. I looked at my brother expectantly "this is yours isn't it?"

"Maybe," he replied shrugging sheepishly.

"Dude, I could camp out in this sucker, it's way too big."

"I know," he grinned "that's why I got you this!" Emmett pulled a smaller, similar-looking jersey out of his pocket and threw it to me.

I slipped Emmett's off and pulled the new one on. It fit perfectly; it was baggy enough that I felt comfortable, but not so baggy that I looked like I was wearing a tent.

"Chris, hurry up son!" Carlisle called from downstairs.

"Thanks, Em," I said, as Emmett pulled my new hat on my head, it too was the perfect size.

"Have fun tonight; catch a couple of fly balls will ya?"

"I'll try," I replied as Emmett and I bumped fists "see you guys in Cali, save me a couple of mountain lions will you?"

"Hah, that's if Edward doesn't get them all first," Emmett shot back grinning as I grabbed my glove and shut Chaplin's cage up before I bolted downstairs.

XXX

We pulled along the Cooper's sidewalk, mainly because their driveway was packed to the brim with cars. I could see Paul watching from the doorway; he began waving like a madman and grinning.

Carlisle raised an eyebrow at him, before looking at me expectantly, gesturing to Paul. I shrugged, just because he was my friend does not mean I understand him, but I did have to grin.

"What?" Carlisle asked suspiciously

"Imagine if we showed up in the Martin." My grin widened mischievously and Carlisle rolled his eyes, "come on dad, think about it, Paul's there drooling over your Mercedes, imagine his reaction to the Aston Martin."

Carlisle chuckled a little bit and slid out of the car as I did the same. Paul held the door open for us and was still grinning like a maniac.

"Thought you guys got lost or something," he said ushering us inside

"Naw just had to get around my older brother." I replied, "he's a baseball nut, he was a little jealous we were going and he's not."

In the Cooper's living room, all the dads and my buddies were present and accounted for, Carlisle and I being the last to arrive. Mr. Cooper came to us from the kitchen and shook Carlisle's hand immediately, before shaking mine as well.

"Dr. Cullen, glad you guys could make it."

"Carlisle please," Carlisle corrected him, "and thank you for the tickets."

"No problem, the boys need something to take their minds off of school before finals, right boys?" Mr. Cooper asked

"heck yeah," I heard Nick mutter.

"So Chris, you excited for the game?" Mr. Cooper asked patting me on the shoulder, I heard Carlisle chuckle a little so quietly that only I heard it.

"Ecstatic, been looking forward to it all week," I replied

Mr. Cooper nodded went around the room introducing Steve, Patrick, and Nick and their dads to Carlisle.

Once introductions were out of the way, the discussion of driving arrangements came up, I exchanged a grin with Carlisle quickly.

"Carlisle are you sure you don't mind the boys all going with you?" Nick's dad asked he looked concerned, not for his son's well being, of course, there wasn't a problem with that, but for the well being of Carlisle's car taking five boys in it.

"It's not a problem if it can survive Chris and his brothers, it can survive anything," Carlisle replied nudging me gently.

"Well, now that's settled," Mr. Cooper, said standing up again "we should hit the road, it's going to take about three hours to get to the stadium, and we have dinner reservations for five. The restaurants right near Safeco field, so it's within walking distance." I glanced over at Carlisle again, my eyes expressing my feelings on a restaurant clearly. Carlisle returned the look quickly and grumbling I accepted defeat.

"Shot-gun!" Paul exclaimed as we headed outside, I exchanged a look with Steve, Patrick, and Nick and we all burst out laughing.

"Nice try Paul," I spoke up, and he looked at me confused, "I think if anyone should be riding shot-gun its Steve, he's got longer legs then the rest of us. It makes more sense for us four to be crammed in the backseat."

Paul made a face, but relinquished the passenger seat to Steve, seeing my point. Carlisle's car isn't tiny, it's not as cramped as the backseat of Edward's Volvo, but it's not real roomy either, especially with my friends.

Over the last few months, my friends have all had major growth spurts, so I'm easily the smallest of the group now, so if it's just me, Paul, Patrick, and Nick in the backseat, it won't be as cramped if Steve was back there instead of me. I did, however, manage to convince them to let me sit near the window, claiming I got car sick easily. I don't of course, but I also don't like sitting in the middle of the backseat, I get fidgety and as I've been told by my sibling, annoying.

After the dads gave Carlisle one last sympathetic head shake, he slid into the driver seat and turned to look at the group of us. The grin on Paul's face was contagious and before we knew what was happening all five of us were grinning like jack-o-lanterns and laughing.

"Right," Carlisle replied starting the car up "well then boys lets get this show on the road, seatbelts back there, and Steven, you may change the radio station but I decide where the dial lands." He finished pulling out onto the road behind Paul's dad, the look on Steve's face was hilarious, it actually caused us to all burst out laughing again.


	12. Chapter 12

I was still pretty stunned how calm my buddies were. I mean Carlisle is one of the last ones in my family who give off the 'not safe, be afraid' vibe that most humans seem to sense with us, but still…in some way, all of us give off that vibe, even Carlisle.

However, overlooking the fact that my father was already in a high league because of his Mercedes (a pretty big deal in a small town consisting mainly of Chevy, Ford, Jeep, and the occasional Toyota) everyone pretty much knows him from the hospital, they respect him, they trust him, he gives off this calming demeanor that emulates to those around him. It's not like Jasper's ability where he makes you feel calm; with Carlisle, you can't help but trust him. I mean I told him as a perfect stranger I trusted him to save my life by turning me into a vampire, not everyone can do that, but he can.

But the fact that no one was nervous or even hesitant about being in the cramped car with us, (well I should say me) it got me thinking. Alice has been planning a graduation party for Bella, Edward, and of course herself, allowing Alice to be in charge of any kind of party planning is dangerous, but this one was slowing proving to be exceptionally dangerous.

Why, well, for starters she planned on inviting EVERYONE from the senior class to this thing, making it a real graduation party, food, dancing, the works. Something I am really not looking forward to, I'm not a party guy, even as a human I wasn't, I had my mates I hung out with, the small group of us, but it never escalated into a huge gathering, the biggest gathering we ever had was outings to the cinema as a group, nine ten of us surrounded by about thirty or so other kids who we may or not have known, and the occasional adult that joined us,

So my original plan for the party was to hibernate up in my room or the loft all night long or even the section of the house above the garage, I've been slowly cleaning it out up there and creating a real living space, a kind of gaming/media room, I've even taken some measurements for a pool table. I'm hoping by graduation it will be done because while Alice is having her party, I'm hoping to be entertaining my own guests.

If the guys were okay with a three-hour car ride with Carlisle and me, then it shouldn't be a problem to have my group of friends over the house for the graduation party. It would keep me away from the party and the pack of nervous graduates and I wouldn't be bored out of my mind. Besides, knowing my sister she'd probably put me to work somehow, bouncer or waiter and I really didn't want to do that.

I was so deep in thought, that Patrick must've thought I'd fallen asleep because the next thing I know he was elbowing me gently in the ribs. We were pulling in behind Mr. Cooper into a parking garage and went up a few flights before Mr. Cooper found the spot he was looking for, with a spot right next to it, on the second level.

It was kind of surprising how empty the place was, especially it being a beautiful Friday night and the Mariner playing at home only blocks away.

I guess it was the whole possible serial killer loose in Seattle that had everyone edge, it still hadn't become major headlines, but it was slowly reaching that point, obviously the city, even the state felt it as a whole, they knew something wasn't right and that meant a lot of people were avoiding the city.

Carlisle pulled into the parking spot next to Mr. Cooper and we slowly piled out of the Mercedes

"Whew, what a drive that was." Patrick's dad Mr. Donnor exclaimed loudly, as he slid out of Mr. Cooper's Ford Explorer.

"You said it, dad," Patrick concurred as his dad patted him on the shoulder.

"Well, boys, who's hungry?" Mr. Cooper asked, throwing his arm around Paul's shoulders.

"Food!" All four of my friends shouted.

Nick elbowed my ribs gently and I rolled my eyes, both at the prospect of a restaurant and at his careful nudge. My friends have apparently come to the conclusion that I'm fragile or something. It's ironic because I'm about as fragile as a boulder, but I'm so much smaller then they are now. Not to mention of course they figured they had a justifiable reason to treat me like I was breakable.

It started with Marie's graduation party last year, a pool party. I had been hesitant about the whole party idea, to begin with, but Carlisle and Esme convinced me to go, and of course, they had been right, there was no way I could be that close to the water and not want to go in.

Luckily it had been a cloudy day so I was able to enjoy the pool, while I was accepted into Marie's group of friends, now mine as well. The only problem was, I should've kept a shirt on, but I didn't and though no one said anything, it was obvious how emaciated I am and I know they all saw my skinny almost sickly pale body.

I was turned during the Second World War, rations were sought after commodities all over Europe and Asia, and pretty much no one had any fattening food. I mean I don't remember what a chocolate bar tastes like, the last time I had one was right after England declared war on Germany, right before the rations started.

In the year between Germany invading Poland and my last moments human, I must have lost about fifteen to twenty pounds, which doesn't sound all that bad, except when you barely weigh eighty pounds, to begin with, and then drop down to about sixty in one short year. Anyways, that's just the start of why Nick and the others think I'm breakable.

It was different when I was about their size maybe a little bigger when we were all in the sixth and seventh grade. Then last year most of them had nasty growth spurts putting nearly all of them, minus Nick a good head taller than me, Nick, however, joined the rest of them while we Cullens were gone over the winter. When I got back I was disappointed, but not surprised to find I was the smallest of my group of friends, even the girls are either my height or in Sarah's case, taller than me.

It was all starting to play into a decision on whether or not I would be returning to Forks High in the fall for sophomore year, I didn't think I could pull off a fifteen-year-old much longer let alone a sixteen-year-old I would be "turning" next December. Needless to say, the idea of really saying goodbye to my friends in Forks was making my stomach twist a bit, I was getting to close and I knew it. I had made some great friends and I wasn't really ready to let it all go just yet.

Nick gave me a goofy grin, pulling me out of my thoughts, to which I was thankful for, this was supposed to be a fun time, even with the food prospect, and if things went a certain way, this would be one of my last hurrahs with this group of guys, leaving two more, the dance and Edward, Bella, and Alice's graduation party.

"Come on Chris, chow!" Nick exclaimed, Carlisle, looked over at me and gave me an expectant look. I knew I had to at least act the part, whether I was excited or not.

"Let's go fellas!" Mr. Cooper said loudly, ushering all of us towards the lift. I stopped dead in my tracks and gave Carlisle a look that clearly said 'oh hell no'.

I'm not a fan of enclosed spaces, we think it has something to do with my near death, which caused me to be brought to Carlisle in the first place, it's part of the reason I don't like planes (and believe me its only part of the reason).

"Yeah I'll take the stairs," I spoke up when the lift reached our floor and the doors opened. It looked barely bigger than a dumbwaiter (okay I'm embellishing here, but seriously a sardine can was bigger.)

"Come on, it's only two floors," Paul spoke up giving me a gentle shove towards the lift. I made one more pleading face at my father who nodded

"Chris has a little phobia about elevators, especially small ones." Carlisle explained "him and I will take the stairs and meet you all downstairs."

"Sounds good, see you in a few," Nick's dad Mr. Holmer replied as they all crowded into the tiny lift and the doors closed with a whoosh.

I took a deep breath

"Thanks, Dad," I said

"Don't mention it, Chris, it did appear to be a somewhat tight squeeze into that lift."

"You're telling me, that thing is like a coffin on cables."

We made our way down the two flights of stairs, taking our time. I wanted to rush the stairs and see if I could beat the lift, which I knew I could, but I also knew there were probably cameras all over the place it would look really freaky to some poor security guard.

We ended up getting there at the same time as the lift, as the guys piled out groaning and complaining about the tight quarters in the lift, I stood there in front of them, arms across my chest, grinning smugly.

"Okay, so Chris had the right idea, next time, I'm listening to the claustrophobic one." Steven spoke up "that sucked."

We followed Mr. Cooper out of the parking garage and down the street. I could see the outline of Safeco field in the distance; the sun had just barely started to set, so it would be a while before the lights went on.

The restaurant that Mr. Cooper was raving about blew me away from the moment we walked in. It was huge for one thing and didn't look that big from the outside, and for another, it was very night-clubbish, with fiery red on one side and ice blue on the other.

"Welcome to Fire and Ice gentlemen," the host greeted as we walked in,

"Hello, I called earlier in the day, made a reservation for ten of us?" Mr. Cooper replied, "under Cooper?"

"Of course, right here, are you, folks, okay with the ice section? Our largest tables are on that side."

"Sure, sounds fine."

"Is there anyone in your party who hasn't been here or one of our other restaurants before?" the host asked,

Mr. Cooper looked at the group of us; dads and kids. It was a solid mix, Steve, Paul of course, and Nick and their dads had all been to the restaurant before, Patrick and his dad hadn't been and well it was a given that Carlisle and I hadn't either.

"Looks like some have, some haven't." Mr. Cooper said

"Well, tell you what, let me bring you guys to your table and those of you who haven't been before I'll give the grand tour."

I exchanged a look with Carlisle as we followed the group to our table, we both apparently were thinking the same thing, I just asked first

"Why would we need a tour of a restaurant?" I whispered so no else could hear, not that it mattered, it was so loud in this restaurant I could've been speaking in a regular tone and no one but someone with vampire hearing would've heard me.

Carlisle gave me a look before shrugging

"I do not know Chris," he answered

"I mean, do restaurants typically let customers into the kitchens to check the cleanliness?"

Carlisle chuckled

"Chris I do not know, why are you asking me?"

I grinned at my father and shrugged

"You're convenient?" I replied and Carlisle tapped the brim of my hat.

As we walked towards our table I did a double-take. I've been to a restaurant a total of twice since becoming a vampire and a dozen or so times if you add in my human childhood. My mum loved to cook and therefore we did not dine out much, but in my memory, I have never seen a restaurant like this one.

The host showed us our table, then gestured for Patrick, Mr. Donnon, Carlisle, and I to follow him.

He showed us the different stations and explained that we could come up as many times as we wanted and fill our plates with whatever combination we wanted. There was a meat station, a fish station, a vegetable station, even an ice cream bar. But what was surprising was the fact that all the food was raw, even meat and fish.

"Sushi?" Patrick whispered to me and I shrugged

"I thought sushi was seafood," I replied, "though it could be beef tartar." I gestured to the beef station.

"Beef tartar?" Patrick asked, "what the hell is that?"

I grinned

"Raw beef, it's a French delicacy."

"Raw beef?" Patrick turned a little green "the French are some of the best chefs in the world, they rule the culinary world and their delicacy is raw beef?"

My grin widened

"Rule the culinary world?" I asked chuckling

"I watch the food network, back off Cullen, don't judge me."

"Oh, believe me, I judge you Patrick, but that is only the tip of the ice-burg." I paused "since when are you a food nut?" Patrick went a little red with embarrassment "Patrick?"

"I'm thinking of applying to culinary colleges starting next year, there's a bunch around the country that are high standards."

"Seriously? I had no idea, that's cool. Have you thought about going outside the country?" I asked

Patrick raised his eyebrow

"Huh?"

"Le Cordon Bleu?"

"In Paris?" Patrick kind of squeaked "dude, that's top of the top. I'd never get in there."

"They look for talent Patrick, if you've got it, which I bet you do, it's worth a shot applying. You never know if you don't try."

The host brought us away from the food, explaining how we were to bring our chosen meal up to the grill. It was a giant round stone grill with about six guys standing around it cooking the food in a line. Customers were lined up around the outskirts of the grill leaning on countertops with plates waiting for the cooking food. It was beyond bizarre to me and a little amusing; it was a neat idea, albeit a weird one.

"So just bring your plates here, they'll cook it to your satisfaction and your good to go."

"And we can really go up as many times as we want?" Patrick asked, his eyes scanning the food selections, I could practically see him drooling.

"As much as you can eat," the host replied, "mix and match, use different sauces, whatever combination you can concoct."

"This is so sweet!" Patrick exclaimed hitting my shoulder "the ultimate all you can eat restaurant."

"Awesome!" I replied trying to sound as enthusiastic as my friend.

It was amazing how much food my pals could pack away, I mean Steve alone went up for thirds and I think even fourths and his plate was piled high. Carlisle and I did our best to blend in, pretending to eat by moving things around the plate and only taking minimal amounts at a time.

Not that it mattered, everyone was having too much of a good time to notice Carlisle and I weren't really eating. We were laughing and joking around, discussing the upcoming game, the dance, and the end of our freshman year. The dads joined our conversation, offering us advice on both the dance and the girls in general. It really was a lot of fun and was honestly one of the best experiences in a restaurant I'd ever had.

After dinner, we made our way to Safeco Field. Mr. Cooper handed us our tickets and once we got through security and got our tickets scanned, we headed inside the stadium. I've been to enough sporting events that it takes a lot to impress me, Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts for the Patriots football team, really impressive. Safeco field was pretty impressive in its own rights and the seats were pretty unbelievable, I mean we were right behind the Mariners dugout and the few players that were already inside willing signed baseballs for us.

Once the game got started I didn't think about anything else, but the game, I was having way too much fun. The atmosphere I felt all around me and the excitement I was seeing on my friends' faces, it was contagious, and I couldn't help but feel it too.

Despite all the food the guys had eaten at the restaurant, it didn't stop them from wolfing down hotdogs, popcorn, and a huge box of crackerjacks. We cheered when the Mariners did something brilliant, booed when the Orioles did the same and threw food in the air in celebration when one of the Mariners belted the ball far into the outfield allowing for a Grand Slam to promise a Mariner victory.

I didn't think about my true purpose for going into Seattle once and by the time the Mariners threw the last out to win the game and we started back to the garage, it finally dawned on me, hitting me like Emmett had just tackled me, but it took nine innings to do so. We were walking down the street towards the parking garage; we were nearly there when it started.

It really started with just a feeling, Mr. Cooper and Paul were in the lead, and Carlisle and I were bringing up the rear of the pack. I felt like someone was watching us, boring deep into my back making my hair stand on end.

I looked behind me, my sharp eyes scanning for movement or worse another pair of eyes staring back at me, but I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything outside of the normal sounds of the city. Carlisle felt me stiffen next to him and looked at me, concern in his eyes

"Christian?" he asked, "What's wrong son?"

"There's someone following us." I gave the air a sniff and Carlisle followed suit, but the look we exchanged was identical, neither of us smelled anything out of the ordinary. The sounds and smell of the city were messing with my senses, only my profile and my feelings were clueing me into something different. "Do you smell anything?" I whispered and Carlisle shook his head.

"No, I do not." He paused looking down the street behind us "did you see something?"

"No, and that's what's worrying me, I feel something, but I can't prove it-"

I saw a flash of a shadow rushing down an ally-way, I knew I wasn't imagining things and this time Carlisle saw it too, we looked at each other quickly and I started to run towards the shadow, the body attached to the shadow was not moving at a human speed, they were moving at vampire speed.

Carlisle grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me backstopping me from following. A good dozen paces up the street, the rest of the group was nearing the parking garage.

"Chris no,"

"But Carlisle, whoever it is they're following us! We've got to protect-"

"We need to get them out of the city as quickly as possible," Carlisle replied gently

"What if that's who is causing the disappearances and deaths here? We can't just let it go unchecked like this."

"And we won't, we need to discuss this with the family first, but right now our priority is protecting our human friends, come on." I still didn't move, watching where the shadow had gone to "Christian, now."

I reluctantly followed my father as we caught up to the group, but I didn't stop looking over my shoulder, just waiting to be jumped at any second. The feeling didn't stop even when we made it to the parking garage. I wasn't about to leave the guys and their dads alone for a moment so I willingly got into the lift.

The entire drive home I was on edge, I couldn't wait to get out of the city and as the chatter from Paul, Steve, Nick, and Patrick slowly died down as each of them fell asleep, leaving only Carlisle and I awake. Carlisle kept glancing in the rear-view mirror to check on me, giving me a gentle smile every once in a while. I sighed and looked behind me again, at the dimming city lights far off in the distance.

"We'll figure it out Chris, I promise." He whispered so not to wake the guys

"I know, I just hate leaving things like that."

"I know you do Chris, but we have to look at the bigger picture, above the profile, don't worry, we won't let this go." He raised his voice back to a normal speaking tone, just in case not everyone was totally asleep "you should get some sleep son, it's been a long day." Carlisle gave me a cheeky grin which I returned

"Right dad, you say so."

xxx

Okay, just a couple of things folks. First, off the restaurant I mentioned in this, well it is a real restaurant but it does not exist in Seattle, it's really called Fire and Ice and how I described it is exactly the set up of the restaurant it's a fun place to go to and I thought it would be amusing to put it there. Also secondly I had to adjust the time from the real game to make it fit for the fic, so the Mariners really did play the Oriols on the 25th of May 2006, but it was an early game and I don't know if the Mariners actually won or not, I had to take some liberties.


	13. Chapter 13

By the time we got home after dropping the guys off, it was pretty late, nearly one in the morning. Carlisle and I barely had a moment to change or me feed Chap, before we grabbed some unnecessary gear, said goodbye to Esme, Rose, and Alice, and hopped back into the car, driving south to meet up with my brothers.

It was early Saturday morning by the time we got to the national park, even driving at vampire speed, we still had a good few hour drives. Emmett's jeep was parked near the ranger's station, under the pretense of a camping trip.

As soon as Carlisle parked the Mercedes next to the giant Wrangler, the park ranger emerged, looking at us suspiciously. I pulled out my backpack, we both tried our best to look the part of normal hikers/campers.

"Can I help you folks?" the ranger asked holding his clipboard "you heading out on the trail?

"Yes, my three older sons should've arrived yesterday, that's their jeep we're all meeting today for the remainder of the weekend, camping."

"Oh right, yes here we are, Edward, Jasper, and Emmett Cullen."

"That's them."

"And your names?"

"Carlisle Cullen, and my youngest son Chris."

"according to this you guys are pretty far out off the trail, does that sound right?"

"We've been coming here for years, we have a designated spot, we like the seclusion."

"Right," the ranger said again "well, take care then. I did give your kids a heads up, we've had a problem with mountain lions in the area, no one's been attacked yet, but they are wandering into campsites, even ones that are occupied."

I resisted the grin, Edward must be in his glory with news like that. Each one of us is partial to a certain critter and Edward's is most certainly mountain lion and an abundance of them would certainly make my brother happy; it was not outside the realm of curiosity to wonder how he was coping without Bella for the weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if he was having Alice tail her all day to make sure she stayed safe. My brother's "must protect Bella from the world" routine had not waned since their encounter with the Volturi if anything it's gotten worse.

"How many have been spotted?" I asked the ranger looked at me cautiously like he didn't really want to answer my question.

"well, in all honesty, none. We just found a couple of paw prints that belong to at least three or four mountain lions in the camping sites. We're just giving everyone a heads up." He paused and I could see the sweat dripping from his face, he looked really uncomfortable all of a sudden and one thing was perfectly clear to me, he wasn't telling us the whole story, or even the truth for that matter. Though I was curious, I hoped that if it was something serious he wouldn't like to use, but I was still suspicious. "Well have fun folks, fire in fire pits only." And with that he headed back into his office

Carlisle locked up the Mercedes and we headed up the trail at a human pace. Once we were out of sight of the rangers station, we exchanged a grin before bursting into a run.

We dodged trees and bushes, following the trail deeper and deeper into the national park. Though it was only the end of May, it was kind of odd the lack of hikers and campers, the last time we went "camping" here had been last August and it was packed with visitors in the regular camping areas. And the last time we were here in May right around the same time as this time around, well it was just as packed.

Fortunately, we go deeper into the woods way off the beaten path where most people don't venture to do our hunting. We leave our supplies and two tents set up in the camping spot we select and the rangers know about and we are always back at the site for a couple of hours past sundown, before venturing off again, just in case the rangers make an unannounced visit to our site. It's only happened once, but we have to put on the show of just being regular humans, a dad, and his four boys enjoying some time together in the great outdoors.

The ranger's body language was still weighing on my mind, something clearly wasn't right and I wondered if that had been the same ranger my brothers had encountered. I was hoping Edward had read his mind and could fill us in on what was really going on.

We found the site with all of the supplies, Edward, Jasper, and Emmett, must've been out hunting because everything was set up, but they weren't around. Their trail however wasn't hard to find, neither was a couple of mountain lions my brothers were apparently trying to track without me. We dropped our own stuff amongst the other camping equipment and headed out to find Edward, Emmett, and Jasper.

We followed the trail a few miles or so away from the campsite. My brothers weren't hard to find, in fact, I don't think they could've been more obvious, I was surprised someone hadn't reported the noise to the rangers. They weren't even hunting at this point, they were goofing off, wrestling with full strength, taking full advantage of Esme not being present to reprimand them. I grinned excellent, I could get a few hits in on them and not have to hear the endless 'go easy with Christian, he's smaller then you are' that Esme with good intention, of course, is always telling my brothers.

Carlisle glanced over at me, just as a cracking noise filled the area, I raised an eyebrow looking around for the source quickly, before pushing my father to one side of the trail as a rotted tree that shouldn't have made a cracking noise, came crashing down in between us. I covered my mouth trying not to laugh; my brothers were in for it.

On the other side of the tree, brushing dirt from his jeans and shaking bits of bark from his hair was Emmett,

"That was awesome, did you see it crack!?" he exclaimed, not noticing Carlisle and I at first. Edward and Jasper both did, their eyes went wide, Edward was nodding behind Emmett and he wasn't getting the hint.

"Emmett," Carlisle said in his rarely used authoritative tone, I was still trying not to laugh as Emmett went stiff, not wanting to look behind him.

"Hi Dad," he said calmly, a grin sliding across his face as he regrettably and slowly turned around to face Carlisle "make it up okay?"

Carlisle sighed and rubbed his temple, it was hard to stay mad at Emmett sometimes and Carlisle knows this.

"Emmett the tree, care to explain?" Carlisle said slowly, gesturing behind him

"Right, that was an accident," Emmett replied shrugging

"What if that had been a random hiker and not Chris and I?"

Emmett's grin faltered a little, then it returned as he spotted me, and the snorts that were escaping me. Jasper and Edward were also trying not to laugh; they just held it in better than me.

"Dr. Doolittle!" Emmett exclaimed, "How was the game?"

"Smashing, but apparently not as smashing as your night."

"I really expect some maturity from you guys," Carlisle spoke up trying to reclaim the conversation, he was just trying to make a point, he wasn't mad. But it was true, that had been a stupid move on my brothers' part, Edward shot me a glare and I shrugged, it was.

"Carlisle, we double-checked the area beforehand. We are basically the only campers here this weekend," Jasper stepped in "this mountain lion scare has people staying away. The rangers tried to convince us to postpone as well."

I looked over at my father quickly.

"They didn't try to stop us, they just told us the lions have been coming into camping areas, but the way the ranger said it, something didn't feel right."

"We've been out here since yesterday afternoon." Emmett said, "we've seen three lions, one that was stupid enough to check out base camp, and the other two last night." Emmett paused "it sounds ridiculous, but even the lions looked spooked and it wasn't because of us."

"The ranger said they hadn't actually seen any lions, just remnants of them, but like I said he was acting weird like he wasn't telling the whole truth."

Edward cleared his throat

"That would be because he wasn't."

"I knew it," I hissed to no one in particular

"What exactly did you read Edward?" Carlisle asked

"They're trying to keep it under wrap, blaming the mountain lions seems to be the only option."

"People have been killed haven't they?" I asked even though I was pretty sure of the answer, Edward nodded

"Two so far, two different hikers on two different trails, only days apart."

"And why haven't they closed the trails down? Why are they still letting people up here?" I exclaimed it wasn't really a question I knew why. To close the area to hikers and campers would insight panic as to why, a killer mountain lion loose in the national park, not exactly good for business.

The rangers rely on money they receive from hikers and campers to properly do their job, no visitors, no need for so many rangers. It's job security, not to mention, camping in a national park, it's basically saying camp at your own risk.

"Two people?" Carlisle asked

I looked at Edward, studying his face, he was clearly holding something back, I know that look.

"There's more to it," I spoke up my profile going nuts, telling me that whatever Edward had read in the ranger's mind was unsettling with him, not a good sign.

Edward sighed and nodded

"The victims, their wounds didn't match any of the bite-marks of a typical mountain lion or any wild cat for that matter, the two hikers both were basically torn to shreds." He paused, apparently he hadn't told Jasper or Emmett this either because they looked as stunned as Carlisle, I wasn't stunned I knew what was coming, I had hoped I was wrong. "The ranger kept playing the scenario in his mind, they found the bodies in the same spot one day after the other, but suspected the lion dragged them from the spot it killed them for some reason." Edward was dancing around the subject, either because it bothered him so much or he was afraid how we'd react, at this point, either reason seemed plausible.

But he was taking to long for my liking, I took a deep breath, I knew what he was trying to tell us, it was written all over his face.

"There was no blood on the ground." I said softly "and the bodies were pretty much drained." I looked at Edward, his face telling me I was correct

Now Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle exchanged a look, it was normal for us to run into nomads from time to time, an unfortunate hiker or two becomes a meal, it's not uncommon, it's sad, but not out of the ordinary. We do our best to protect those in and around Forks, I wish we could stop ever nomad that decides to make a lunch date out of citizens of Washington State, but it is a big state and unfortunately, we can't protect every square inch of it.

Up until our encounter with the tracker, his mate, and Laurent, we hadn't had any nomads wander into our direct territory, or even hunt in our area for that matter, at least not in a long time we're talking decades.

Granted this area wasn't our territory, the area around Forks and the Olympic peninsula, even up to Port Angeles we consider that under our protection. Seattle is pushing our territory, but I mean it's right in our own backyard so it makes sense we're keeping an eye on it, just in case everything going on there right now is more supernatural related. This was even more so after what I had seen, walking back to the garage after the game. I know I had seen one of our kind, I just couldn't prove it.

"Nomads?" Emmett asked Edward, who shrugged "This doesn't have anything to with Seattle does it?"

"We still do not know if Seattle should concern us, but I certainly think it's beginning too" Jasper spoke up, he looked at me, he could feel my change in emotions when he mentioned Seattle; he knew something had happened to shake me up a bit, and since it takes a lot to really scare me or even make me a little nervous. Knowing how things are typically going to play out, doesn't really leave room for a lot of fear on a normal scale.

I quickly told my brothers what had happened in Seattle, both my feeling tying into my profile and then the physical form of someone moving at vampire speed down the alley.

The three of them were equally stunned even though Edward had seen the whole thing play out in my mind beforehand, he still was unnerved, rightfully so.

"Chris, why don't you and I take a walk, you hunted the other day right are you good for a little bit?" Edward asked and I nodded I could tell he had already hunted too, probably involved a bet between him, Jaz, and Em and he won finding the mountain lion first.

Carlisle knew what Edward was doing and of course, I did as well. He was going to show me where the bodies had been found, let me profile it, he knew I could probably do what the rangers had been unable to do, figure out where the hikers had been dragged FROM. Carlisle nodded his approval

"We'll meet you both back at the campsite at sundown." He instructed Edward and I both gave a nod of agreement before bolting into the woods.

Edward's the fastest in the family, but I'm a close second so even though we had a grim task ahead of us, he couldn't help but goofing a little bit, something that has been pretty rare with my brother as of late. He sped up and dodged trees trying to lose me (jokingly of course) but he couldn't lose me. Even if by some miracle he could beat me in a race by a wide berth, I could track him, he'd never be able to hide. Even when I was human, I was the king of hide and seek; my cousins learned that the hard way, as did my friends.

Edward's other problem was he was having a good time and therefore was laughing so loud it was impossible to lose him anyway.

"So how was the game?" he asked I as I caught up to him and we matched our speed

"It was fun, got some autographed balls for you guys."

"Did you enjoy the restaurant?"

"Yeah, it was weird, I don't know if all restaurants are typically like that, but it was definitely an experience. The guys enjoyed it, it was an all you can eat buffet, I didn't think anyone could eat that much. I swear Steve went up like four times, if not more. Then they ate at the game too. But just for the experience, we should make a family trip out of it, it'll blow you away I'm telling you."

Edward chuckled at that then stopped suddenly as we reached our destination. It didn't look like anything out of the ordinary, a small clearing just off the trail. We were deep in the woods, whoever the hikers had been they were obviously experienced survivalists, used to hiking extreme conditions and living off the land. I looked around carefully, examining the trees and the ground. I mean it had been a week or so since the second body had been found.

"Well, what do you see?" Edward asked, he had access to my mind of course but wanted to hear what I had to say.

The scent of blood was still heavy in the air, even a week following the second incident. The park rangers may not have noticed any blood, but I did. It had soaked into the ground as the hiker was dragged from the killing spot, to here. Both hikers were dragged here, something that wasn't really characteristic of our kind. We have no reason to drag a human anywhere. Even a full-grown adult man isn't a match for us, even for someone my size or Alice's.

A large cat might drag it's prey to a certain spot, especially if it is feeding cubs, but the behavior and the lack of blood found at the scene at least visible to the human eye, that was still mind-boggling, even for a profiler. Edward had said the hikers were drained and even though some blood was still here, it wasn't as much as should've been from a large cat attack.

"I'm just assuming the body was found here," I sniffed the air a bit, then knelt down giving the ground a sniff, "actually I'm pretty sure both bodies were put here." I emphasized put, I was now 99% sure that a cat couldn't have done this or any other kind of non-supernatural predator. I had to be 100% sure though, I had to see where the hikers were dragged from, the original attack site that would tell me the exact guilty creature. And if this was vampire-related, I hoped we could figure out why he or she would go to this trouble to drag (not carry) their victim here and if this was just a one time deal or did we need to be concerned about this.

Edward was just about to reply when I caught the scent of the blood trail, mixed with some kind of cologne or perfume. The ground had been disturbed by people and animals walking here, but it was definitely a trail that could be followed.

I bolted, following the path one or perhaps even both hikers were dragged over. Edward followed close behind, my profile was in overdrive, I could visualize the entire scene. I could see a mountain lion dragging a lifeless body towards its hungry cubs, but the stronger the trail got, the less sure that profile seemed to the point where I could see it playing out more with a vampire as the perpetrator.

Just off an overgrown part of the trail, with a scent of recent visitors stopped me in my tracks. This was it, this was ground zero, almost two miles from the dumpsite. No mountain lion would go that far from her cubs and would, therefore, have no reason to drag a body two miles down a hiking trail.

"This it?" Edward asked looking around the clearing carefully and I nodded

"The first hiker, he was coming up the trail, he brushed up against this tree." I leaned closer to a tree nearest the trail and gave it a sniff, I wrinkled my nose, the guy had drowned himself in cologne and hair gel, it was burning my nose a little, but it gave me another clue to the puzzle.

"Chris?"

"He was meeting someone here."

"The other hiker?"

"Maybe," I replied, "was the other hiker a woman?" Edward nodded "yeah so must've been her. How many days apart were the bodies found?"

"Two," Edward replied leaning against a tree. "but the ranger suspected the second hiker had been killed the same time as the first. But of course, he's not a coroner, he was just guessing."

"I bet they were going hiking together when they were ambushed, and I bet the ranger wasn't to far off in his estimate, they probably were killed at the same time." I looked around carefully, the trail wasn't anything spectacular, an experienced hiker could have fun with it but it wouldn't be beyond possibility for an armature to attempt it. There had to be something else that brought the couple here, my body went numb as I spotted it "and I think I know where they were going." I paused "oh hell that's ironic."

Edward looked to where I was pointing, a cave, kind of obscured against the thick tree line of the hill, but it was clearly a hiking favorite, I could smell hundreds of people passing by it and into it the closer I got.

It was, however, the sign that I was referring to, right at the entrance to the cave, 'Dead Man's Crystal Caverns, enter at own risk.'

Edward and I both made a face and moved to the entrance. I wanted to explore it and I know my brother did too. We were about to go in when my phone began vibrating. I quickly dug it out of my pocket and raised my eyebrow, it was Alice.

Edward saw the confusion on my face and narrowed his eyes at me, I decided right then and there just to block him out my mind as best I could, I mean he'd be able to hear us anyway.

"Er, hey Alice, sup?" I asked casually turning my back on the glare from my brother.

"Is Edward with you?" Alice asked, I had been concerned, it's not like Alice to call out of the blue like this when we're hunting or in this case playing CSI. But I didn't hear any real worry in Alice's voice, just utter annoyance and I hoped for a second it was directed at Edward and not me.

"Yeah, him and I were hiking ahead of the others," it wasn't an outright lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. I had a sinking feeling the call was about Bella somehow, and the fact that Alice was more annoyed then concerned well it made me more concerned at Edward's overreaction then if Bella had done something, well, Bella-ish.

"Bella's future disappeared. She went down to the reservation."

"Oh, okay," I replied, knowing Edward would be giving Bella an earful when we got home. I looked over at my brother and the look on his face, er, perhaps sooner than anticipated.

"Tell Edward not to panic, she's fine,"

"Yeah you know how that will end Alice," I grinned "see you," as soon as I hung up with my sister, Edward looked at me expectantly

"Chris come on we're finding the others."

I groaned

"Why?" I whined, I didn't mean to, but I wanted to explore that cave and figure out what had happened to the hikers, that and because of course my brother was doing what he does best, OVERREACT.

"Chris," Edward growled, "I need you to track them."

Now it was my turn to glare

"Find 'em yourself Mapquest, you don't need me."

"I do so Carlisle doesn't think I abandoned you in the woods."

"And we all know I can take care of myself in the big scary forest," I paused "you're the one who couldn't track his way out of a paper bag."

Edward's glare intensified but we both knew I was right. I'm the best tracker in the family thanks to my ability. Emmett always jokes that I'm like a homing pigeon, no matter what I can find my way. He wants to test the theory someday by dropping me from a plane (this shows exactly how much thought he has put into this plane) into the middle of Yellowstone and letting me find my way home. Keep in mind, this little plan of his comes with a detailed drawing of the drop, my little stick figure character being dropped with a random parachute. Clearly my brother has way to much time on his hands, but the point is I could find the others faster then Edward could ever hope too.

"Fine, stay then,"

I felt my smart ass attitude creeping up on me and I knew I was probably going to piss him off even more, but I think I had passed that point.

"Yeah send Jasper if you can find him. I hope you have your passport ready just in case you make it to Mexico and try to cross the border 'cause you're hopelessly lost." It was immature I know, but in my defense, I am nearly three decades younger than him.

Edward didn't dignify that with a response, instead, he growled at me once more and bolted down the path we had just come from.

"Bloody overprotective prat," I mumbled to myself kicking some dirt after him. I turned back to the cave and took a deep breath, something I hadn't noticed before hit me, a smell, a pretty nasty smell, like something was rotted. I prayed for a second hoping that what it was wasn't what I thought it was. I nearly turned back around, suggesting to myself to go get Emmett, Carlisle, and Jasper, the four of us investigate just in case. My curiosity, however, is enough to kill a few cats and I took a few steps forward into the cave.

As I was walking through I kicked something. I looked down at my feet and picked the object up, it was a wallet. Inside was all the owner's cash, credit cards, license. It belonged to a Robert Yeltz of Indiana. I figured that must've been the first hiker and I wondered if the woman's stuff was in here too, however when I looked down the pathway I got a little more then I bargained for…winding down the trail of the cave-like breadcrumbs was a collection of wallets, both men's and women's.

"Oh bloody, bloody 'ell," I swore under my breath, that was enough of that I was getting my father and brothers.

As I ran at full speed from the cave, marking its' location in my mind, heading towards my brothers and father one thought kept rushing through my mind, either Crater Lake National Park had a serial killer on the loose, or they had a vampire with a serial killer's mind, neither one of those scenarios was something I was looking forward too. I did know one thing though, we had to get into that cave.


	14. Chapter 14

Finding my brothers and father wasn't tough, I mean tracking ability aside, I could hear them almost a mile away from anyone with the noise they were making.

Carlisle had fooled Emmett when he acted concerned about the roughhousing/nature, but I mean he was kidding and doing a damn good job of it. When I got closer I scaled a tree and sat contently in the braches watching my family.

Emmett and Jasper had resumed their wrestling match and Carlisle was watching shaking his head and laughing at my brothers. When Emmett tried to tackle Jasper and missed, he slammed into Carlisle knocking our father into the dirt.

"I am so sorry," Emmett said putting his hand out to pull Carlisle to his feet, instead of

reprimanding Emmett, Carlisle simply brushed the dirt off of his trousers and smiled knowingly

"No harm done, Emmett, it's fine." He replied as Emmett turned back to Jasper. When Em wasn't looking, Carlisle glanced up at the tree I was sitting in and winked, grinning. I returned the grin and waved. Carlisle nodded at Emmett, giving me full permission for what I had intended to do anyway, but it's nice to have permission to do it.

I readied myself and took aim, jumping from my perch in the tree.

"Alba gu brath!" I shouted, landing smoothly on Emmett's shoulders, taking him not only by surprise but down as well. Jasper and Carlisle burst out laughing, Carlisle had to lean on a tree for support and Jasper simply went to the ground they were both laughing so hard. Emmett was completely stunned, he jokingly clutched at his chest, but I knew I had gotten my brother, and I had gotten him good.

"Where the hell did you come from!?" he exclaimed clamoring to his feet. I stayed on the ground, I couldn't get up I was laughing too hard, instead I held my sides and rolled around, my laughter echoing in the clearing, I was laughing so hard, I nearly forgot about the cave, it felt really good to be laughing like this, especially after dealing with Edward's annoying overprotectiveness and what could be potentially lurking in that cave.

"I…your…oh bloody hell," I managed to gasp out between hoots of laughter "you had no idea, you really had no idea, I can't believe I got you."

Emmett reached down and lifted me up, his hands under my arms, holding me off the ground a few feet so we were eye level. I was still choking out laughs and I could tell my brother was trying to hold his back as well.

"I will get you back Dr. Doolittle, mark my words." He growled in good humor "I will get you back. When you least expect it, expect it." I couldn't answer him, even though the last thing he said made no sense. I was still dying with laughter, it would be a good few minutes before I could speak properly. Emmett gave me a shake for good measure before dropping me to the ground. "What did you say anyway?" he asked, I knew his curiosity would get the better of my brother

"Scotland Forever," I replied with a grin

"That's your amazing battle cry?" Emmett shot back "you're a book worm that speaks how many languages? I pegged you for something better, more obscure, something in Latin or ancient Greek, but you go with Scottish, weren't you raised speaking Scottish? Isn't it like second nature to you? I mean seriously, if I could speak as many weird languages as you can I'd pick the most out-there one to use as a battle cry."

Now I rolled my eyes

"Do you really want to play this game Em?" I asked. It wouldn't be the first time I've carried on a conversation in another language. One time Emmett annoyed me so much about my British accent that I went entire month speaking to him in only Gaelic, reminding him that there were worse alternatives to my speaking with an accent, at least then, for the most part, he could understand me.

Em started to reply, but then he changed his mind and shook his head, apparently deciding not to even bother. Besides, Jasper stepped in.

"So, Chris what did you say to Edward? He muttered something about hoping that you got eaten by a mountain goat before taking off." Jasper asked and I snorted back another laugh, because of that, it came out more like a hiccup, which set everyone off again laughing.

"I questioned his tracking skills,"

"Or lack thereof," Emmett said gently elbowing Carlisle

"Alice called, Bella went down to the reservation for a puppy play-date, she was more annoyed than concerned, but we all know Edward, he went back to Forks."

"He better not do something-" Jasper started to say

"Edward-ish?" I interrupted

"Yes."

"Anyways I mean I know the wolves are pretty dangerous, but in all fairness so are we. I mean I really don't think Jacob would ever hurt Bella, even unintentionally. I may not like the guy on a personal level, but I've profiled him, he cares about Bella, just as much as Edward does, and I think Bella is actually pretty safe with him and the rest of the pack." I paused and pushed my bangs back "if Bella can't be with us all the time, then the next best group I'd rather see her with is the wolves. They can protect her almost as well as we can."

"That's a different tune coming from you Christian," Carlisle said gently "so you do trust the wolves?"

"I trust them and their intentions. They're bound by their instincts and very being to protect those who are in what they consider their territory." I laughed a little "in a way they're like us, only more controlled by that instinct. We protect because we know it's right, they protect because it's instinct. It's fascinating actually."

"So Edward's going back to Forks to be overprotective, what are we doing?" Emmett asked, he got this gleam in his eyes and I figured he was about to tackle me. Just as he made the move I sidestepped and he hit the ground. "Damn it."

"Emmett," Carlisle warned before chuckling a bit

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd guys check out the cave with me." I reached down and helped Emmett to his feet

"What cave?" Jasper asked

"Edward and I…we found where the hikers were dragged from. It wasn't a mountain lion that killed them." I took a deep breath "I think it was…a vampire."

I hated to kill the fun mood, but we had to look into this, my information instantly killed the mood, as all three sobered up.

"Are you sure Chris?" Carlisle asked

"Positive, I started to go into the cave, after Edward bailed on me. I found something that is not a good sign."

"What did you find kid?" Emmett asked

"Wallets, tons of wallets, leading into the cave, the first one I found, I think it belonged to the first hiker, but there was definitely a mix of guys and women wallets in that cave. They were in a line, like enticing the finder into the cave." I paused "I could smell something rotting deep in the cave."

Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper exchanged a look

"Chris," Carlisle started "show us this cave."

XXX

Carlisle held me back as Jasper and Emmett moved towards the cave. The smell had gotten worse if that was possible and I'm not sure how it did, but it only made my curiosity grow. I'm also not sure why Carlisle was holding me back, I mean I could've gone into this cave by myself, I decided not too though. I think my father was even more worried about what we were about to find in that cave, then the rest of us. He was pulling an Esme, holding onto at least one of us to reassure it would all be fine.

"Looks clear, you smell that though?" Jasper asked the three of us and we all nodded, "I'm going in to check it out. You guys coming?"

I looked up at Carlisle who nodded

"Let's go," he said.

We found the wallet trail easily; I exchanged a look with Jasper who was clearly unnerved by this. I didn't like that, Jasper isn't afraid of much, there isn't a lot that makes my former soldier brother nervous, but a potential serial killer, especially a vampire one that would definitely make anyone nervous.

The smell was getting worse the deeper into the cave we went, it wasn't just one or two things rotting, there was a lot more than that, four maybe five rotting something's in here and I wasn't really sure I wanted to know what the source was.

"How deep did you go?" Emmett asked

"Not this deep, I stopped when I found the first wallet, I knew something wasn't right and I wanted backup to explore further."

"Good call Chris," Carlisle pointed out, putting a hand on my shoulder "whatever we find in here, I'd rather us be together to find it."

"What are we going to do?" I asked him "I mean what if we find a pile of bodies in here, how do we handle that?" my profile was getting ahead of reality,

"We won't know until we check this out." Carlisle reminded me. Emmett held me back as Carlisle went ahead of Jasper towards the smell. If there was a pile of rotting bodies down here, they might be masking a fresh victim; Carlisle would be the best person to go check that out first.

Carlisle disappeared around the corner of the path and came back a second later. He looked relieved which made me feel a whole hell of a lot better.

"Well?" Jasper asked anxiously and I nodded quickly wishing my father would just tell us.

"The smell is decay, but it's not human, there are about five assorted animals in that cavern in various stages of decay."

I gently pushed past my father and darted into the room to see for myself. He was right, I saw the mutilated body parts of squirrels, rabbits, deer, raccoons, and even half of a bear, thrown in a pile to rot. I could smell the blood on the floor of the cave, it had soaked into the ground from the animals. Whatever had killed the animals had not drank from them, only mutilated them for some bizarre reason. The smell though was enough to make even a vampire gag, some of these critters had been rotting for weeks.

"But what about the wallets?" I asked quickly gesturing to the piles of them on the trail "there's got to be over a hundred here."

Emmett reached down and picked four of them up. He looked at each one carefully before tossing one to each of us

"They're all empty."

"What?!" I exclaimed "no way"

"See for yourself kid,"

I opened it up and shook my head, Emmett was right, no money no ID, nothing. I dropped the wallet and bolted back to the entrance of the cave where I had found Robert Yeltz's wallet, it was still there, right where I had dropped it. I matched it and the scent I had found in the forest clearing earlier and then sniffed around until I found another wallet that matched the other scent. Both of these wallets still had the victim's IDs and assorted valuables. I brought these to my brothers and father.

"These ones aren't empty," I started handing them over

"Are these the two hikers?" Emmett asked and I nodded

"But why the other wallets, I don't understand," Jasper muttered rubbing his chin

"Neither do I," Carlisle replied "something about this does not feel right. The hikers having been drained, yet very little blood spilled the trail Chris followed here to this cave."

"Not to mention PETA's worse nightmare in there." I added "and all these empty wallets, I don't get it." I paused "something is definitely wrong here, but I cant figure it out. I mean why would one of us go through all this trouble just for a meal. I mean it makes no sense." I rubbed my temple my profile was going nuts because I couldn't focus on one scenario, anything made sense to me so my profile wasn't making sense.

"Well, what I do suggest is that we head back to our site and pack up. I think an anonymous call to the Ranger's office about this cave might be our best option. Let them try to figure out the source, best case scenario the park is closed temporarily so no one else is killed." Jasper said, we headed out of the cave; we tossed the wallets back into the cave where we had found them. It felt really good to be out in the fresh air

"I still have a funny feeling about this," I said as we started back to the site, we were running at this point, but not very fast, none of us seemed in the mood to race, not even Emmett.

"I know you do Chris, but there's not much we can do." Carlisle said, trying to reassure me "we cannot, unfortunately, protect every human from danger, even if that danger is our kind."

I nodded

"I know," I mumbled Carlisle put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me a little

"you know?" he asked "hm?" he pushed trying to get a smile out of me, it took a few seconds but I gave in and grinned at my father "that's better."

XX

Once we had the site broken down, we made our way back to the cars. The rangers didn't seem surprised that we were leaving early, in fact, I think they were kind of glad.

I opted to go with Jasper in the Jeep; we had some things we needed to discuss, thankfully Carlisle didn't feel hurt. I think he wanted to talk to Emmett about something anyways. We followed the Mercedes out of the park and onto the main road. The first few minutes were silent before I finally couldn't take the silence anymore

"Jasper do you think the wallets in the cave are connected with Seattle, or am I just being paranoid?"

Jasper took a deep breath as he shifted gears

"I don't think you're being paranoid Chris, you are the last person in this family who had a paranoia problem."

"Thanks," I replied, "I think"

"But I'm not sure about the connection, seems kind of coincidental doesn't it? I mean think about it, why would someone bring thirty or so wallets to an obscure cave in the middle of Oregon's Crater Lake National Park?"

"I don't understand it anymore then you do, but I know something isn't right. It's no coincidence that two hikers were killed a week ago and left in that spot. It's almost like whoever did it was taunting. Leaving just enough of a trail for someone with vampire senses to follow to that cave."

"But what makes you think it's connected to Seattle, it's kind of a stretch kid." Jasper pointed out and on a normal level I'd have to agree with him, but I had noticed something in that cave that no one else seemed to notice.

"Not entirely, especially when you realize the number of wallets we found in there, minus the two with identification, it nearly matches the number of missings from Seattle."

Now Jasper looked over at me quickly, he hadn't realized that I don't think anyone had.

"Chris are you sure?"

"100% I counted them, you subtract the other two, and there was the exact number of wallets for each one of the people missing in Seattle." I paused "the missing ones, not the ones who were found dead. CNN reported the numbers yesterday, heard it when we were heading home from the game."

"And the shadow in the alleyway, how much of a profile did you get? I know it was a quick moment."

"Not long enough, unfortunately, it was way too quick. It was definitely a vampire though, that scent was unmistaken and the way he moved, no human could move that fast. But it definitely felt like he was following us. I can't be sure though if it was Carlisle and I he was following or if it was just the group of us in general." I ran my fingers through my bangs thinking that over "Jasper, the last person who went missing, how old were they?"

"Sixteen, give or take. The authorities were brushing him off as at least eighteen so he was considered an adult, but an anonymous source called in a tip saying that he was actually fifteen, but because he was homeless, the news is making it sound like the police were overlooking him."

"Unfortunately, they're probably not far off. I mean he's a kid yeah, but a kid who's living on the streets avoiding the system in a huge city. He wouldn't really be seen as a high priority. It's sad, but it's true."

The silence crept into the Jeep again as I stared out the window. Jasper waited a minute or two before clearing his throat, catching my attention.

"Chris, what are you thinking?"

I didn't answer my brother for a second or two, trying to come up with a good response, my profile was in overdrive from this weekend and for the first real-time in my vampire life, I was having trouble sorting through it.

"Seattle has me concerned. All the clues that are adding up are telling me that there is a vampire in Seattle being an idiot. That explains the random murders. It doesn't, however, explain the ones who have gone missing. Are they dead and the police just haven't found their bodies? Or is there just no connection between the murders and the disappearances. It seems to be way too much of a coincidence, but I can't think of another reason, at least not a logical one." I took a deep breath "what do you think?"

"I think you're right Chris, we do need to be concerned, I'm just not sure of what yet. I hate to say it, but we need to wait and see. If this is a vampire being sloppy then we could be looking at more problems than just an obnoxious neighbor."

"You mean an unwanted visitor." I guessed "but they'd wait for proof that it's a vampire before stepping in, so they'd wait it out too. I mean for all we know this could be just the work of a regular human serial killer."

"And if it is there isn't much we can do about it, but if it is a vampire, we might have to step in and take care of it."

"Carlisle won't like that," I reminded Jasper

"I know he won't, but that's why we need to wait and see."

"Whatever is going on, we won't be waiting much longer I can feel that for certain." I said with a sigh "sooner or later, we're going to have to be involved somehow." I pulled out my phone

"Who are you calling?"

"Emmett, we need to pull into the most deserted rest stop Carlisle can find. We have to at least call the authorities about the cave."

Jasper nodded, turning his attention back to the road.


	15. Chapter 15

Alice had this huge grin on her face when we got home and at first I couldn't figure out why. I'm usually pretty good at figuring my sister out, but it took me a minute. As I hung up my coat and slipped my sneakers off into the mudroom, Alice followed me, grinning wide.

"Yes Alice?" I finally said turning to face her, she clasped her hands together and giggled, before patting me on the head and skipping away.

That in itself made me kind of nervous. Jasper, Carlisle, and Emmett looked at me and shrugged, as we parted ways.

I could hear Esme in her office and that's where Carlisle was heading, Rose was definitely upstairs in her and Emmett's room, and Edward was nowhere to be found. I was pretty sure that he went to Bella's. I hoped he was over there making amends for being so paranoid. If I know Bella and Edward as I do, Bella was probably not happy about Edward's over-protectiveness, I could only imagine how Bella reacted to that.

Esme came out of her office, she came over and hugged me tight, kissing the top of my head.

"Christian honey, I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks," she cooed

"Sorry mum," I replied hugging her back

"Did you have a good time?"

I looked at my mother's face carefully; clearly Carlisle hadn't told her what had occurred during our hunting trip. I wondered for a second how long he thought he could keep that from Esme, she's good at figuring things out and Carlisle at least around her is the world's worst liar.

"Brilliant," I replied sighing, great now I was lying to her as well. But Esme seemed more preoccupied with something else besides us lying to her.

"Chris, are you planning on going hunting again next weekend. Edward apparently didn't really get a chance too and is planning on going next weekend, Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle are going as well."

This was the first I heard of this, Emmett and Carlisle must have made the plans on the way home. Edward must not have gotten as many mountain lions as he wanted, because there was no way he would need to hunt as early as next weekend.

"Probably," I replied, I'd probably be getting close to due by then, but if Edward was going to be his usual self I might skip the whole ordeal and let Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle deal with him. Besides, I could read Esme's tone, she wasn't asking if I needed to hunt again. "Why?"

Esme reached over and lifted the house phone off the charger. She smiled knowingly and played the messages.

"You have one new message, play new messages, to listen to skipped messages press two," our answer machine's robotic voice said. Esme pressed two and put the phone on speaker. "First skipped message sent yesterday at 11:24 AM."

I raised an eyebrow as Esme held the phone to me, it still on speakerphone, Marie's nervous voice poured out of the phone.

"Hi Chris…it's Marie, I know you're camping with your brothers and dad this weekend, I just wanted to call and say hi…um…I'll talk to you later, either at school or if you want…call me back when you get home. Hope you're having fun…bye."

"End of message."

Esme hit the end button and her smile widened.

"Sounds like Marie missed you," she said and I shrugged a little embarrassed "Chris, why don't you invite her over for dinner?"

"Seriously?" I asked

"Serious," Esme replied smiling, "I think it would be nice to have her over for once, her family has had you over a number of times, I'd really like to return the gesture."

I nodded, Esme was right of course and besides, Bella was over here a lot of times, this wouldn't be any different. If anything it is easy, unlike Bella, Marie didn't know she was best friends (I'm still pretty sure we had moved to a dating stance) and possibly dating a vampire.

"When should I invite her for?"

"Why not this weekend, Bella is going to be here for the weekend, a sleepover with Alice," Esme replied and I snorted back my laughter, imaging my sister and Bella having a slumber party.

I was subjected to tons of over the top, obnoxious girly movies involving sleepovers thanks to my sisters in the mid-80s into the mid-90s and I knew Bella was in for one hell of a weekend and I meant that quite literally.

"Er, okay,"

"Go call Marie, tell her we'd love to have her over on Thursday for dinner, be sure to ask her what she likes to eat, you and I will go to the grocery store and get a few things okay?"

I nodded, I took the phone and headed up to my room for some privacy, not that that's really possible in this house. I passed Alice on my way up and she was still grinning like a jack-o-lantern, apparently, she knew the whole story, she'd probably seen it happen.

"Oh this is going to be so much fun," she exclaimed, "I'm pretty sure Rose will participate,"

"Yeah right," I replied with a grin "best of luck with that,"

"at least she'll be on her best behavior."

I was really trying not to laugh at this point, Rose thought Marie and me were cute, a childish first crush kind of deal, she still took issue with Bella. Not about Bella knowing our secret, since the incident in Italy Rose had calmed down over that and even respected Bella, after all, Bella had saved Edward's life.

What Rose didn't agree with was Bella's careless disregard for her human life and the fact that she was willing to throw it all away at the drop of a hat, she always acted as if her human life was so awful and mundane that her leaving it behind wouldn't make a difference.

There wasn't one member of our family however who agreed with her on that aspect, Rose and I especially. But it would be interesting to see Alice trying to drag both Rose and Bella around the house for painting their nails, doing hair, things like that (those movies have literally scarred me for life…)

Up in my room, Chap was throwing a fit waiting for me. I grinned, unclasped his cage door, and let him climb out and up my arm. He was clearly ecstatic to see me and I was on the same level, since losing Charlie a few months ago I've really made sure to focus on Chap's emotions. Charlie was after all Chaps' brother, I suffered a loss, but mine was of a best friend, Chap lost his brother, his constant companion from birth.

We've been hanging onto each other when we start missing Char. The nice thing is that we both have our distractions and Chap's found another companion if I'm not around, he's always had Alice that's his buddy, but now he also has Jasper and Emmett who he wouldn't have gone near in the past, now he searches them out and hangs out with my brothers on a regular basis.

Emmett has ever referred to Chap as his X-Box partner, there are times he won't play HALO without Chap sitting on his shoulder, something about my rat being a good luck charm.

As I dialed Marie's number Chap jumped off my shoulder to my desk, he sat there and watched me, curious.

Mrs. Burke picked up on the third ring,

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Burke, it's Chris, is Marie home?"

"Oh hi Chris, hold on sweetie she was just helping me move some furniture, here she is." A sentence like that sounded ordinary enough but felt a twinge in my stomach and I couldn't figure out why, sometimes my profile clues me into things and I have no idea what they mean.

"Hi, Chris!" Marie's voice filled the phone, she certainly sounded out of breath and I wondered for a second how much furniture moving they'd been doing.

"Hi,"

"Did you have fun camping? Did your brothers come home from college for the summer? Where did you guys go camping?" Marie may have been out of breath, but that didn't stop her from rattling off questions at warp speed, I had to grin she sounded like a kid on a sugar rush, and believe me, I definitely know what that sounds like.

I chuckled

"Let's see, yes I had fun, yes my brothers are home from college for the summer, we went to Crater Lake National Park." I answered "we go every spring, just the five of us guys."

I could practically see Marie smiling as if she was picturing the camp-out, I'm pretty sure about this because there was a long pause on Marie's end.

"I wish I could go camping, you know I've never been?" she admitted and I have to admit I was kind of surprised. Marie loves the outdoors and nature, to me she'd be the last person I would have pegged to have never gone camping.

"Really?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice, she giggled a little

"Really, my dad's allergic to a lot of environmental stuff, tree pollen, mold, moss, a whole bunch of stuff; he's got a severe allergy to poison ivy and oak." Marie giggled again "he's not a lot of fun to be around right about now. I think that's why he doesn't coach baseball. But we've never had to chance to go camping because of his allergies, it just never came up."

"I'm sorry Marie," I replied, I mean I've never been camping in the sense she was thinking of either, toasting marshmallows around a roaring fire, sleeping in a tent, etc.

Sure when we go hunting, our version of camping we have a site that is made up to look the part, we'll get a nice fire going and tell ghost stories around it sometimes, but marshmallows aren't apart of the equation and sleeping in the tents we'd have set up, of course, that doesn't happen.

Still, I guess it is better than nothing; it's as close to camping as a vampire can get and it's certainly better than never going.

"It's okay, it's not like I've never been on vacation, I've been to Disneyland and World plenty of times, and of course the San Diego zoo."

"Well there you go, you've never been camping and I've never been to Disney,"

"You've never been to Disney?" Marie asked in surprise, I could hear it in her voice because she's Marie and she's quiet and doesn't like to pry she didn't ask her full question, which was 'your family is loaded how have you never been to Disney?' Marie is to polite to ask that, but I know she was certainly thinking it, you don't need to be a mind reader to guess that.

"No," I quickly made up a story to go along with that "we were supposed to go a few years ago when I was nine, but my older brother Edward broke his leg a week before we were supposed to go so my parents had to cancel the trip, some reason it never got rescheduled."

I had no problem blaming Edward for us missing our fictional vacation, it's childish but made me feel better about his stupidity and over protectiveness.

"I think missing Disney is so much worse than never going camping, it's so much fun I'm sorry you've never been, I hope you get to go at some point, Chris."

"I'm sure I will, might be time to start pestering the parents." I fibbed before changing the subject "so Marie, my mum was wondering and I was too…um, would you like to come over my house for dinner."

"Really?" Marie asked "sounds great, let me just ask my mom, hold on a second," there was a soft thud as Marie set the phone down on what sounded like a countertop. I could hear her asking Mrs. Burke in the background.

While I waited I flipped on my old school super Nintendo with Super Mario Brothers in the slot and began playing it. I had just started a new level when a creak of the floorboards outside my room, I glanced up to see Esme standing in my doorway looking at me expectantly

"She's asking her mum" I replied nodding at the phone

"don't forget to ask her what she likes to eat," Esme whispered and I nodded, definitely wouldn't forget that.

I heard the phone get picked up and Marie's voice came back on the receiver

"Chris, she said of course!" she exclaimed and I couldn't help but grin at her excitement

"Great! My mum and I will pick you up at" I glanced over at Esme

"6:00" she whispered

"Six okay?"

"My mom says she can come to get me afterward that way your mom doesn't have to make two trips," Marie said, I could hear Mrs. Burke in the background asking questions and giving offers.

"Tell her don't worry about it, my mum doesn't mind." Esme walked into my room and held out her hand for the phone "uh, Marie I think my mum wants to talk to yours,"

"Okay,"

There was muffling as Marie handed the phone to her mother and I passed ours to Esme.

"Hi, Anna how are you?" Esme asked

Thanks to my superior hearing I could hear the other end of the conversation perfectly well, even as Esme headed out of my room, I put my game on pause and followed my mother out of my room.

"Well Esme very well, and you?"

"Busy, busy, our nephew and niece and oldest son are all home for the summer from college so it's been more chaotic with them moving their things back in, but nice having the whole family home."

"It must be so nice to have everyone home,"

"It is," Esme paused "I like having a full house, it will be even tougher next year with the older five in college, then it will be very quiet."

"I can't imagine, I'm not looking forward to Marie going off to college, I'm not ready for an empty nest, I don't think I ever will be." Mrs. Burke replied "but Esme it is so nice of you to invite Marie over for dinner,"

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry it's taken this long to plan something and return the favor, you have had Chris over so many times." Esme replied waving her hand, I snorted back a laugh at the hand gesture and she gave me a look that stopped my laugh dead in its tracks, but it didn't put a damper on my grin. "now, what does Marie like to eat?"

"Oh, she's really not picky, the only thing she won't eat is fish, she's not a big seafood eater, to begin with, but that is it, she's not a picky eater."

Esme smiled a little

"Well that's good, Chris is so picky he hates trying new things, I can never get him to move out of his comfort zone."

"Funny, real funny mum," I whispered grinning and Esme winked at me.

"Oh, Esme before I forget I was wondering if you had any plans the day of the freshmen dance."

"None that I can think of at the moment, why?"

"I'm on the parent's committee and we could really use all the help we can get setting up and getting supplies for the dance, we'd love it if you could help out." Mrs. Burke asked casually and Esme looked over at me.

A normal guy my age would be appalled at the thought of his mother being at his first school dance, especially his first high school dance, but for one thing, I'm not a normal fourteen pretending to be fifteen years old and secondly I know how much my mother has always wanted to be involved in normal parent stuff. She loves going to parent-teacher conferences and being involved in our school life as possible.

Esme likes for our lives to be as human normal as possible, and that includes playing the part of a normal (if not large) family. I started off here as a sixth-grader so she was able to be more involved in a non-weird sense than if I had started in high school, she'd never be involved with half the stuff if my brothers were involved, in all reality I'm the baby of the family as my siblings constantly remind me and with that "honor" comes a very protective set of parents and a mum who loves to be able to act the part of a normal parent and knows her youngest will let her do so.

My sixth-grade class had a field trip before school let out and she happily volunteered to be a parent chaperone. She loves it and I would never deny my mother that opportunity. Besides, our group on that field trip had the best time out of everyone, everyone in our group was bragging about how cool Chris Cullen's mother was.

But with the offer from Mrs. Burke, Esme actually looked back at me as if she was asking for my permission; I grinned and nodded, giving her a look to remind her that she didn't have to ask ME for permission for anything like that, I know how happy it will make her.

"That would be lovely Anna, I'd be happy to help out."

"Wonderful Esme, we're meeting tomorrow evening at the school, in the library would you be able to make it?"

"Of course, what time?"

"Seven, we'll also have some of the students who are on the Dance committee there as well, it won't be very long an hour or so."

"I will be there and Chris and I will pick Marie up at six on Thursday for dinner,"

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to come and pick her up afterward, it's really no trouble."

"It's no problem, we'd be happy to bring her home. The girls are having a slumber party over here with Bella Swan, and I'm sure by that point Chris will be anxious to get out of the house for a little while,"

"Oh hell yeah," I mumbled the images of that particular horror flashing in my mind again. Esme gave me another look, reprimanding my language with her eyes, it's kind of scary how she does that.

I could hear Mrs. Burke chuckling on her end of the phone and I rolled my eyes, was I the only one who didn't find my sister's sleepover funny and was in fact dreading it? I thought that over for a second, probably one other person in the world…Bella and I had to grin at that.

Bella would most certainly be more horrified and dreading it more then I, at least I could escape it for a few hours with Marie here, and spend the rest of the night locked in the safety of my room, Bell had no choice in the matter but to endure it.

"Well Esme it was wonderful to chat with you, we really should get together for coffee sometime."

"Of course, we'll have to make plans for that, I will see you tomorrow at the school and thank you again for asking me to be a part of this, it means a lot to me."

"Anytime, I just wish I had asked you sooner, things have just been so hectic with the end of the year coming up, I've got students staying in the library for hours after school just cramming away for finals, I will be in need of a long vacation after finals are over, preferably with a masseuse." Mrs. Burke added and Esme joined her laughter

"I can only imagine, best of luck Anna, have a nice night."

"You as well Esme, good night."

The two mothers hung up the phones and Esme smiled at me

"So, school dance committee huh?" I asked my mother grinning

"You don't mind do you Chris?"

"Of course I don't" I replied, she walked over and kissed the top of my head, hugging me tight, before heading downstairs to return the phone to it's charger. She looked so happy I couldn't help but chuckle.

I was just about to go back to my game when the floorboard creaked again, I turned and saw Jasper standing in my doorway. After Esme's in high spirits body language, Jasper's serious stance brought me down a few notches.

"Chris, I have to ask you something,"

"Is this going to be something I'm not going to like?" I paused and glanced out the door past Jasper "or something that Carlisle and Esme aren't going to like?"

"A little of both I suppose," he replied

"Er, okay, what is it then?"

"Carlisle has an overnight shift tomorrow," Jasper said and I nodded we all knew that

"Right, so?"

"Would you be willing to go back to Seattle with me?" That question caught me off guard, I knew Jasper wanted to go to Seattle to check it out, especially after what I had told him, Edward, and Emmett about the shadow and being positive it was one of our kind, but I didn't think he'd want to go this soon. As if he was reading my mind as well as Edward can or my body language like I can Jasper put a hand up trying to reassure me, my emotions must have been sending him warning bells like anything. "We're just going to investigate, ask around see what's happening without getting directly involved. Between the two of us we should be able to find something."

"Well you're right about one thing, Carlisle is definitely not going to be a fan of this, neither is Esme, especially not Esme."

"All we're going to do is play detective; I'm going to give you the chance you didn't get the other night,"

"Which is?"

"Profile the area, do what you're best at Chris, see what's not there and what is. That's why it's just you and I going, too many of us, and if it is one of us it will be seen as a threat, just two of us not so much. We need to know what's going on Chris; we all know something is going on. If we get there and find nothing then that's fine." Jasper explained and I sighed "what are you thinking Chris?"

"Esme and Carlisle are going to kill us when they find out, but…I'm game, Jasper."

"It's settled then, I'll pick you up from school tomorrow afternoon and we'll go from there." Jasper patted my shoulder and headed out of my room, presumably to his and Alice's room. I looked over at Chap who was still sitting on my desk, he had a sunflower seed in his paws and he was contently nibbling on it. He looked up at me and tilted his head as if he was asking me what was wrong,

"Man do I got a bad feeling about this whole thing Chap, but Jaz is right, we gotta try and investigate." Chap gave a loud squeak and ran up my arm "come on, let's go find Emmett, I'm in the mood for a game a little more strategic then Super Mario brothers."


	16. Chapter 16

Jasper pulled the car to a stop not far from where I had seen the shadow, not surprisingly the streets were empty of life. I mean it was nearly two in the morning, and in typical Seattle weather fashion, it was down pouring.

I pulled my rain slicker on and slid out of the Audi and Jasper did the same, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and the feeling that I'd had earlier was gone, replaced with the normal feeling of a populated city.

"Anything?" Jasper asked joining me on the sidewalk "Chris?"

"I don't know." I admitted, I moved closer to the building and started to retrace the path the group of us had taken earlier "this is the spot I saw 'em, but it doesn't feel the same." I came to a dead stop at the entrance to the alley, where the shadow had darted, I glanced up at Jasper and nodded at it "here, he disappeared into here."

Now that I was closer I was able to really investigate, I could smell the presence of one of our kind. A vampire, who had recently fed was definitely in this alley, I could smell him and the blood too.

"You smell that right?" Jasper asked and I nodded

"Impossible to miss, it was a vampire I saw." I paused "I can't tell if he was following us…I mean he had to know that the group he was following wasn't all human. Did he follow us on purpose or did he just stumble on a pack of humans then realized that two of those were vampires too?"

Jasper shrugged

"It's possible," he replied.

I moved towards a fence at the end of the alley, the scent got stronger the closer I got to the fence, in fact, the fence was dripping with the same smell and it was kind of nauseating. Knowing how a bloodhound feels (seriously not the first time that thought has crossed my mind) I gave the fence a deep sniff then pulled back quickly.

Whatever was on the other side of this thick chain-link fence might give us a clue, in fact, THE clue we needed.

I looked at my brother, he could feel my curiosity rising and I knew he wouldn't stop me, he would be cautious, but Jasper and I are a lot alike on that front, we both need to know the whole story when something is strange.

"Just be careful," he instructed

"Always," I replied as I scaled the fence, careful not to make a sound, not an easy task on a chain-link fence. I hopped down, landing in a puddle. Luckily the rain was accompanied by loud claps of thunder, so I technically didn't make a sound.

The smell was definitely stronger on this side, strong to the point where I realized we were dealing with more than one here. The security portion of my profiling ability began screaming at me, too many vampires, outnumbered, get out of there, all this bombarding my mind. The scary thing was it was right, there were at least five distinct scents here, all belonging to what could be a good size coven.

"Chris?" Jasper called, he must have felt my panic

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

"You wouldn't believe me, come over here and smell for yourself."

Jasper wasted no time and jumped the fence, protective brother mode taking hold. As soon as Jasper joined me, he realized what I'd meant.

"This is not good," he mumbled, more to himself than to me, but I concurred.

"Which part, the coven of vampires this close to us or the coven of vampires this close to us that feed on humans?"

"Both I'm afraid,"

"So, Seattle doesn't have a serial killer human, just a group of serial killer vampires."

"Perhaps," Jasper replied and I looked at him quickly

"What do you mean perhaps?" I asked, "it adds up doesn't it?"

"But it shouldn't." Jasper explained "no coven should be this sloppy, nor this exuberant. There are too many bodies and missings to be explained."

"Jaz, what are you suggesting?"

"This coven, it has no fear, not of us, certainly not of exposure, which means they do not fear the Volturi."

I winced at the mention of the Volturi and even gave a little shiver, even though the cold rain had no effect on me, but the mere thought of our royal family certainly did. I was surprised they hadn't gotten involved yet, thankful of course, but surprised. This kind of news had to be reaching Italy, considering how "involved" they are it certainly would've have irked Aro's interest and Caius' panic.

"You think they just don't care?"

"I don't know Chris, this whole thing it's just odd and perplexing."

I sighed, perplexed Jasper is never a good thing, but I'm a profiler I know my brother better than most because of that ability. He wasn't telling me everything he was thinking; I don't know why my family tries to hide stuff from me, it's pretty pointless.

Off to the side, a trash can fell over catching my attention. Though it might have been just the wind, I wasn't leaving anything to chance. I started to walk over there to investigate when Jasper yanked me back.

"What?" I started to say when I stopped, sniffing the air "oh bloody hell no…" I groaned as the scent which we had been following, filling the area, along with two other scents. Another can fell over, this time it splashed in a puddle and I know it wasn't the wind and I was pretty sure it wasn't a cat.

"Chris, how many?" Jasper whispered

"three total," what do you feel?"

"Calm, nothing alarming." He admitted and I knew that tone, Jasper may not have sensed anything alarming, but that was enough TO alarm him.

"Do we fight?" I asked.

Two against three sound like bad odds I know, but Jasper and I are dangerous fighters, even just the two of us.

Not long after him and Alice joined the family, Alice, Jasper, Rose, and I went hunting, while the others stayed home. We were about a day, maybe two (human speed) away from our house on the outskirts of Bangor, Maine. We had just finished our hunting when two nomads showed up, they were looking to claim a territory that had a lot of tourist traffic and they meant to take ours.

They couldn't believe the size of our coven (at least what they saw of it), but that didn't stop them from getting hostile quick.

One of them went after who he dubbed (mistakenly) our weakest link, IE Alice; big mistake all around. The second his attention went onto Alice, his death warrant was signed. Jasper had him torn to shreds before he even knew he was dead.

His partner who had been eyeing me at the time (apparently I was the second weakest looking link) trying to decide between me and Rosalie on who to attack, saw his buddy getting ripped to pieces and attacked Jasper. He never got the chance because I tackled him to the ground and did something I never expected to do, I followed Jasper's lead and decimated the nomad.

My instinct to protect my family had taken over and before I knew it, it was a done deed. Rosalie and Alice had clearly wanted to help, but there wasn't anything to help with. In less then two minutes, both nomads were dead, torn to pieces.

I was in shock when it was all over, I couldn't believe that I had done that even though the evidence was right in front of me. I was literally shaking and felt my knees go weak as I crumbled to the ground. Taking an animal life had always been tough on me, but I had never taken a human life, nor had I at that point killed one of our kind before. I'd never killed like that before and I couldn't figure out what had come over me.

I mean I knew I had done it out of instinct and had done it to protect my family, but my instinct had never hit that point before…then again, it had never been faced with that kind of hostility before.

It took Rosalie and Alice an hour to calm me down, while Jasper destroyed our opponents in a small bonfire. All the play fighting I had done with my brothers had trained me to fight in that kind of situation, but it's one thing to play fight with one's siblings, it's an entirely different matter when you take a life.

But I have never hesitated on the few times we have faced that kind of danger again, I don't forget, but I don't regret those times either.

So looking at Jasper now, I knew we could defend ourselves if it came to it, but I was following his lead on this. He shook his head

"No, we don't want to start a war. We came here for information, I believe we got enough for the moment. Let's go." he pulled my jacket and we quickly retreated back over the fence.

As we headed to the car I stopped short, Jasper nearly plowed into me, but I was too focused to really notice.

Something was about to happen, something I couldn't see, something I wouldn't be able to stop, but I could feel it coming, I just didn't know what IT was.

"Ja…" I started to say when a scream shot through the night. The booming thunder masked it, but those with superhuman hearing heard it perfectly. A woman's scream, followed by dead silence…seconds later the air filled with a new scent…A distinct smell…

Fresh Blood.

I felt Jasper stiffen behind me, he put a hand on my shoulder as if I was keeping him grounded there.

"Chris…" he started to say, I could hear the burn in his voice, the pain. The fact that he as still behind me shows how resilient Jasper has gotten over the years, but I know we can't push it.

"Jasper, I gotta check it out," I felt his grip tighten for a moment, to the point where I actually felt it and I couldn't help but wince, this time the grip had nothing to do with the blood.

"Chris, no." He breathed

"Get in the car, drive around the block, pick me up outside the stadium. I'll be fine."

"If something happens to you, even Alice will never forgive me," Jasper growled, "I can't let you go alone,"

"And you're in no condition to go, it has to be me." I argued "five minutes, that's all I need, I'll check it out and be back, forget meeting me at the stadium, just meet me here, I promise I'll be right back."

At first, I thought Jasper would keep arguing, or even force me into the car. But he didn't, he reluctantly let go of my shoulder and I took off running down the street, following the smell of blood and heading in the direction of the scream. I knew he wasn't happy to let me go like that.

The trail wasn't hard to follow and as I got closer to the apparent scene, the stronger the blood scent got, to the point where my throat was starting to burn a little. I was starting to feel a little less confident about the whole thing the closer I got, especially when I saw the body.

It was about thirty yards away from me in a vacant lot on the other side of the street. A woman, laying in the mud. She was provocatively dressed and even from my distance, I could see she was dead. I took a deep breath and looked around carefully, using my ability to read the scene.

There was no sign of the attacker and I mean no sign at all, all I could smell was death and the bits of blood that had soaked into the ground.

"bloody hell," I mumbled, I could see how savagely mangled she'd been killed. Her neck was torn to shreds and it would be amazing if she could be identified considering how beat up she looked. To be frank, she looked like a frog after biology dissection.

Suddenly, a new smell entered my nostrils and I gagged at it, immediately I stopped breathing just to prevent the smell from attacking my senses any further. I knew it had soaked into my clothes though; maybe the rain would wash it off. But the smell of alcohol and really bad B.O. was overwhelming.

"Lookies like ol' Jack has come to town." A scratchy (and clearly drunk) voice came from behind me. "best be careful lad, ain't just the ladies in Jackie's sights now, no one's safe, she ain't the first and she won't be the last."

I slowly turned around and was dumbfounded by the sight in front of me. If the situation wasn't so serious I would've burst out laughing. The old guy looked like he had spent a year in Victorian London and hadn't really come back with all his poker chips. He had a top hat, for one thing, a walking stick with what at first glanced looked like a silver handle hung off his arm (once I got a better look at it I realized it was just shiny plastic.)

The thing that really threatened to send me into fits of laughter was the pipe. Not only was it something that Sherlock Holmes would use, but it was plastic and instead of blowing smoke, it was blowing bubbles, which clearly didn't survive long with the drizzling rain, but it got the point across.

"I…I beg your pardon?" I asked still not sure how to take this guy, I wasn't sure if I should be worried about him or just amused by him.

"Ol' Mr. Ripper my boy. Fancy him straying here, not far from Whitechapel if I do say so, but still bit of an odd place. Who really knows the mind of Mr. Ripper however, certainly not this old chap."

"Jack the Ripper?" I asked even though I knew exactly who he was talking about. There isn't a soul from Great Britain who doesn't know the story behind Jack the Ripper, people outside of the UK may know the basics and think they know everything, but it's not the same. If you grow up in London you know the story.

As a kid, I knew not to venture into the East End of London. It was something we all knew, it was still an area with a bad reputation even back in the 1930s and 40s, the skid row of London.

We weren't taught the Ripper killings in school, of course, wasn't really appropriate classroom discussion, however, the schoolyard didn't fall under the same rules.

Everyone in my school knew what had happened in Whitechapel in the 1880s. It was the kind of place you never wanted to go yourself, especially alone, but it was the kind of place you'd dare your mates to venture into, a dangerous and skivvy place and call them chicken if they refused, but knowing you wouldn't go either.

"Of course Jack the Ripper lad, he's out stalking his prey again, only he's not so particular nowadays, any ol' victim will do." The old man cackled and "keep your wits about you, don't want to join his new list."

I backed away from the old man, he was starting to freak me out and that takes a lot. But the correlation between Jack the Ripper and what was happening here in Seattle was pretty damn close, a little too close for my liking.

The old man burst out laughing and I did something I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but it reached the point where I was so freaked out I bolted.

I could hear the old man's laughter halfway down the block as I ran as fast as I could, not even caring if someone saw me running faster than a human should be able to run.

I could see the surprise on Jasper's face the second I neared the car he could feel my terrified emotions and even though I was embarrassed by that, it didn't slow me down. I opened the door to the Audi as quickly and carefully as I could and fell into the passenger seat.

"Chris, what the hell happened?"

My whole body was shaking as I looked at my brother carefully trying to figure out how to tell him what I'd seen.

"Dr…drive home…I'll tell you just let's get outta here."

Jasper wasn't about to argue with that as he peeled out of the parking spot heading for the main highway to take us home.

Once we were out of the city, with it fading in the rearview mirror, Jasper glanced over at me expectantly

"Well?"

Quickly and carefully I told him everything that had happened, the creepy old guy, the body in the empty lot, the old guy's repeated reference to Jack the Ripper, and the serious overkill on the woman's corpse.

Jasper didn't say a word, he let me tell the story, nodding every once in a while and waving his hand to encourage me to continue. The original image of the old guy still made me chuckle a little, but then his voice and his obsession with London's most famous serial killer made me completely forget how hilarious the guy looked.

"I can't believe I ran…I was just so freaked out Jaz," I admitted

"I don't blame you, I think most would be, had they been in that situation."

"Well, I suppose we got what we wanted tonight; we wanted to know if one of our kind was hunting Seattle, that certainly has been answered."

"I wish it was that simple Chris, it's not though, there's more to it, I know you can feel it, you profiled that."

I sighed, he was right of course I did profile that, but I wasn't going to admit it.

"Yeah, I guess," I paused and looked at my brother "do we tell the others?"

"I'll talk to Carlisle, we do not tell Esme, especially not about tonight, it'll only worry her."

"Agreed," I replied, "I wouldn't tell Em either, he'll want to come here and pick a fight." Jasper nodded "and Edward would be bad to tell too, he'll panic and convince Chief Swan to send Bella to Florida somehow.

"And the girls?" he really meant Rosalie, keeping something like this from Alice wasn't going to be easy, in fact, I was surprised she hadn't figured out our plan before we even left the house.

"No, it'll worry them too. I mean I hate to put this on Carlisle, but he deserves to know. Just in case this turns ugly later on. I know this isn't going to end here, something bigger will come out of it I just don't know when or even how."

Jasper nodded, he reached over and patted my shoulder

"It'll work out, we'll handle whatever comes our way. We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, paying attention, and listening. We both know the signs and what to be looking for."

"I hate this waiting thing…I'm not ready to go to war over this, but I have a sinking feeling that's what is going to come out of it."

I looked out the window staring as the forest rushed past us, the rain splattered down, the events in Seattle had shaken me, it takes a lot to do that, but tonight certainly did it and I felt an uneasy queasiness about the next few weeks and what was going to happen from Seattle.


	17. Chapter 17

Not surprisingly, Carlisle was not happy with Jasper and me when we went to speak to him. He'd only been home from his overnight for an hour or so when we knocked on his door.

He was distressed about what we had learned, but he was overlooking that fact at the moment to give us his 'I'm very disappointed in you both' look. It's something neither of us see very often, but when we do see, it, we know he means business, it also comes with a pretty lengthy lecture, that felt like it went on for hours.

Jasper tried to take full responsibility for the whole thing, claiming that he convinced me to go after promising me that Carlisle knew we were going. Of course, I wasn't about to let Jasper take the blame, I was just as guilty.

Carlisle did agree however that we would keep our discovery amongst the three of us, at least for the time being. We knew how the others would react and had all come to the same decision wait.

Carlisle did insist on me going over step by step what I had seen in Seattle, he was desperate to know exactly what we were up against, that way he knew how to proceed. Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed at my reaction to the whole thing, I hated the fact that I freaked out and literally ran away.

I was trying to hide my feelings on the matter, but Jasper of course felt my embarrassment and nodded at Carlisle who understood immediately. He reassured me that I did nothing worth being embarrassed over and that he would rather me have gotten out of that situation then stick around and try to solve it on my own, putting my own safety at risk.

Considering, I thought Jasper and I got off pretty damn easy. I know Carlisle was disappointed in us though and that was enough punishment for both Jasper and I. We had risked not only our own lives but the family as well, not to mention our human neighbors; we might have started a war by going to Seattle after Carlisle asked us not to.

Jasper saw it all as a military necessity; we had to know what we were faced within Seattle. It may have gone against what Carlisle asked, but in that sense, Jasper is less bound to Carlisle, the two of them are after all the oldest in the family and in all reality, Jasper has experienced much more in the sense of war then Carlisle, both as a human and as a vampire. He knows how to read an enemy and search out trouble better than anyone in our family, even me on some points. But while I felt guilty about disobeying Carlisle, Jasper does not feel as guilty, he was doing what he felt was right.

After Jasper headed upstairs to go see Alice, I stayed behind in Carlisle's office, I still felt really guilty about the whole thing, even though I agreed with Jasper, it was necessary and of us, four Cullen boys, Jasper and I were the most level headed and reasonable for the fact-finding mission, it made more sense for us to go.

"Christian, I'm not mad," Carlisle, said when he saw me hovering "I wish you and Jasper hadn't gone without telling anyone, but it's done with now." He paused and sighed "and we learned quite a bit from it, the information we would not have if it hadn't been for you both."

I moved closer to his desk and sat down

"I keep seeing that woman in my mind dad, every time I close my eyes, she's right there." I shuddered "even before that crazy guy showed up, I kept thinking, this has got to be how the first person who found Mary Kelly's body, must have felt, I think his name was John McCarthy, he owned the boarding house she lived in and was hunting for the rent when he found her…anyways I really know how he felt finding her like that."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow

"Mary Kelly, one of the Ripper victims?" he asked and I nodded

"she was ripped to shreds dad, so was this lady, the only difference I could see was that there was blood soaked into the sheets with Kelly, I smelled very little blood on the ground in that lot, but there was definitely the smell of blood in the air." I paused "then that guy shows up talking about Jack the Ripper and…I just got spooked. All the stories that my mates and I would tell each other to freak us out, all about Jack the Ripper and White Chapel…it came rushing back and that was why I ran."

"Chris, Chris, easy," Carlisle said gently, trying to calm me down "it's perfectly understandable. You did what any normal person would do in that situation." I must have had a look on my face because Carlisle's face went from reassuring to curious "Christian?"

"Where were you during the Ripper years?" I asked slowly,

Carlisle was a little stunned by that question, but he thought it over

"Here in the US, I'd left Italy by then, I believe I was in northern Michigan." Carlisle replied "why?" he paused "do you think I am secretly Jack the Ripper?" he was trying to make me laugh, trying to do what Emmett would always do.

I wanted to grin and laugh, the thought of my father being Jack the Ripper was beyond comical, but I had other reasons for asking about his whereabouts in the 1880s, and unfortunately, my father's well-placed attempt at cheering me up wasn't going to work.

"No of course not,"

Carlisle nodded, seeing the seriousness in my eyes

"Then why the questions Christian?"

"How much did the papers report on the crimes here?" I asked, "I mean I've read reproductions of the articles, and I know the case pretty well, but."

"Very little was reported over here if my memory serves me correctly. Despite what you learned about the case as a child, I'm sure it wouldn't have been well reported even back then in your area of London. Remember Chris, White Chapel and that entire district of London was-"

"A different world," I finished

"Exactly, even when I was a boy it wasn't the place to visit. That area for some reason always seemed to attract the worst possible situations. The situation was different, much different than during the Ripper time, or even your childhood, but I was not allowed to venture to that area and I suspect you weren't either." Carlisle paused "why the questions about Jack the Ripper?"

I took a deep breath and reached forward to his desk, Carlisle keeps little knickknacks on his desk and for someone like me with the full attention span of a two-year-old, not playing with them is impossible. This is especially true when I'm trying to carry on a conversation, but at the same time avoiding that conversation like the plague.

One of my favorite toys if you will on his desk is a mini swing set like thing with about six little metal balls hanging, I'm sure you've seen them, you take one ball to pull it back, let it go and it hits the next ball in sequence and sets all of them off. Anyways I let one of the balls go and watched the other's smacking into each other, getting distracted for a moment.

Until Carlisle cleared his throat, pulling me back. He's used to me doing this and usually just lets me go through the motions for a moment or two.

I looked at my father over the little toy as he gave me an expectant look.

"Sorry," I said "the woman tonight reminded me of everything I have ever read or heard about regarding Jack the Ripper and…the crazy guy tonight he said that old Jack had come to town. It freaked me out before, but now that I'm thinking about it, what if that's the answer to everything, what if he wasn't completely crazy?"

"Chris, son, I'm sorry but you've lost me."

"Jasper and I thought that the killings in Seattle were too unorganized, too sloppy. It was like those responsible didn't care if the authorities got involved or worse, the Volturi." I paused "would it be possible…even in the slightest that Jack the Ripper was one of us? A real psychotic one of us, but a vampire nonetheless?"

Carlisle thought this over, I have to admit, this is pretty out there, even with my imagination, but to me, the facts added up and the murders in Seattle resembled no other serial killer case more closely then Jack the Ripper.

"Chris, it is a good theory, but I don't think these killings in Seattle are related to Jack the Ripper, nor do I believe he was a vampire."

"How can you be sure? I mean it's possible, the brutality, the way he left the bodies, I mean it would be possible for one of our kind to massacre someone like that and leave some blood behind, it's odd, but not impossible."

"I didn't think of it until just now, but Aro and the others, they had the same theory back then." Carlisle reached into his desk and pulled out a folder, I may be a packrat, but Carlisle is the king of packrats, he saves EVERYTHING. He gently searched through the folder until he found what he was looking for, I instantly recognized Aro's handwriting and winced a little as Carlisle handed the letter to me. "Aro sent this after the fourth woman was found. I was not following the case, I did, however, have several human friends in that area of London who had written to me alerting me that they would be leaving England for the states, they had mentioned several of the victims and how the papers were reporting on them. They were understandably nervous about the potential killer in the area and were hoping to leave soon. It was after that I received this letter from Aro. I'm not entirely sure why, but he asked me for my advice on the matter. He had already sent two members of the guard to England to investigate. I do not believe he expected a reply, I believe this was more a warning to avoid England for a while until the Volturi could sort the matter out."

I read the letter over carefully; in it, Aro explains to Carlisle the murders and how he suspected it was one of our kind who had clearly lost control.

"I'm assuming the investigation didn't go anywhere?"

"No, it didn't. They never found any proof that Jack the Ripper was a vampire. When the killings eventually stopped, Aro felt it was proof that the murderer was a human after all."

I felt my shoulders drop as I handed the letter back to Carlisle

"Oh," I replied, unable to keep the disappointment out of my voice "I'd hoped…that we could go with the lesser of two evils here. The killings in Seattle, the disappearances, I have no doubt that it's vampire-related." I sighed

"but?" Carlisle asked

"If it was the same killer from 1880s London, which meant it was one individual…even though there was definitely at least three tonight it was a more manageable theory, I could easily see a scenario that we could counter pretty quickly and safely. I mean I'd hate to think that Jack the Ripper himself was running around Seattle orchestrating this, but even that wouldn't be out of our league. Three, possible four vs. all of us, our odds are pretty good. Now though….what it probably is, I don't like this at all."

Carlisle folded his hands on his desk, he clearly knew what I was about to say and was just as unnerved by it.

"Which is?"

"That we're not dealing with a group of an experienced killer here…we're dealing with one experienced killer letting a bunch of inexperienced, bloodthirsty killers loose on the streets of Seattle…newborns, and a lot more than just the three that Jasper and I sensed in that back alley." I finished running my hands through my hair as Carlisle and I exchanged a look, neither of us wanted to be right on this, but Jasper felt it too, the three of us were in the same boat now.

"Chris, there has never been a time where I have doubted your profile, this is one of the times I wish I could doubt it…it is also one of the rare times, I wish it was wrong."

"Believe me…me too." I don't often wish that of my profile, but times like this, it sucks being a profiler.

Carlisle, Jasper, and I we made the decision to keep everything to ourselves for the time being. We did not to cause a panic in the family and we certainly didn't need Emmett rushing off to Seattle to take on whoever was lurking there, just because it would be fun. Carlisle insisted that everything return to the normal routine.

x-x-x-x

Esme, who thankfully hadn't figured out Jasper and I's late-night trip into the city, picked me up from school on Wednesday afternoon to do something we only do when Bella comes and something I haven't done since Bella's birthday party last September, Esme and I went food shopping.

Esme had been pouring over cookbooks for days trying to come up with a recipe that would be complicated and simple at the same time, something that Marie would like. It also had to be something that a few of us wouldn't mind choking down, it also had to be something that Bella would enjoy since she was kind of grounded to our house while Edward and the other's went "camping."

I still was kind of torn over the fact that I was also stuck in the house…with my sisters, Bella, and my mother, instead of hunting with my brothers and father. But I mean I didn't need to go anyways and I was actually pretty excited about this dinner with Marie, so much so that I'd been graciously ignoring my brothers teasing me and my sisters fawning over my "home date".

I let Esme pick out the food, I just pushed the cart, which was my reason for being there, push the carriage and carry the bags. I was not allowed in the kitchen once Esme and the girls started preparing the meal, and I had flashbacks to my human childhood when my real mother would give those same instructions.

I was kind of fascinated by the supermarket as I followed Esme, careful not to run her over with the wheels of the carriage. The small grocery store in Forks is no match for the larger chain stores, so we ended up driving half an hour away to one of the bigger grocery stores in the area, a superstore I guess.

It had everything, even it's own cafeteria, every few aisles stood employees with free samples of various products. I had to chuckle at the sight as another flashback hit me, my younger cousin Greg, my other half since we were so much alike down to the fact that we could've been twins minus the two year age difference and one other fact, he was a bottomless pit.

Greg could eat at every minute of the day and still be hungry; he would've been in utter paradise with all the free samples being offered at the grocery store, and would probably have found a way to go back for seconds, even thirds, probably using me as a decoy.

Esme turned to look at me as I chuckled at that thought, she raised an eyebrow and smiled at me questioningly

"Chris?" she asked and I grinned

"Just thinking,"

She reached over and kissed the top of my head as she returned to her massive list, gently depositing items into the carriage as we moved through the aisles.

"Does Marie like ice cream?" Esme asked as we entered the frozen food section and I nodded remember the Burke's serving me some. "do you remember what kind?"

I shrugged

"Cold?" I guessed and Esme gave me a look that was a mix between half amused and half annoyed

"Christian." She warned

"I think it was cookie dough, but I'm not sure,"

"Thank you," Esme reached into the freezer and pulled out the container of ice cream. At the end of the aisle she added ice cream toppings to the now pretty packed carriage.

As my mother studied her list one last time, I shifted through the pile of stuff, most of it I didn't recognize. I'm pretty sure I saw a huge thing of hamburger meat, I leaned into the carriage and pushed some of the packages aside and lifted out a huge jar of sauce and an equally large box of pasta.

I was just guess, but I was going with Esme was making spaghetti and meatballs, but why the jumbo size? I held them up to Esme as she turned around; she looked at what I held in my hand, then looked at her list and smiled

"Mum, exactly how much do you think Marie is going to eat? You make all this pasta, we're going to be stuck with leftovers that we'll never get rid of."

"Will you stop Chris? I'm going to send most of the leftovers home with Marie, the rest is for Bella for the weekend, along with some other items in here. It's been a while, but I do remember how to shop for groceries." Esme added a quick smile escaping her, I knew she wasn't really reprimanding me.

"I'm just thinking of the bill," I replied shifting through the items again, "there's gotta be at least two hundred dollars worth of groceries here

"says the boy who just spent twelve hundred on a new computer?"

I grinned and shrugged

"heh, right, message received."

By the time Thursday afternoon arrived, Esme had her battle plan ready to go. Alice had already put her own plan into action and had kidnapped/picked Bella up from work (I guess either one works, it's really a matter of opinion.) Bella was not a happy camper understandably, but she was willing to put on a good face when she found out what was also occurring in the Cullen house during her imprisonment.

My brothers and father had already left earlier in the day, so by the time five o'clock rolled around, I was feeling slightly better in the nerves department, at least my brothers weren't going to be home to tease me and as Esme drove down our winding driveway to the main road to go collect Marie, I was able to flip through the radio stations and even somewhat relax.

At least, I was relaxed until we neared Marie's street, then the nerves came rushing back, the same nerves I felt going to the movies with her the first time, the same nerves from the graduation party, and yes the same nerves from the first time I went to the Burke's house for dinner. The problem was, these nerves may have felt somewhat the same, but I could tell they were not the same, these nerves were very different from just regular butterflies.

Esme glanced over and saw me staring out the window, I was drumming my fingers on my knees, which Esme takes as a typical sign that I'm getting nervous. She reached over and put her hand on my left hand stopping the drumming.

"Christian, this will be no different than any other time you and Marie have gotten together, why are you so nervous sweetheart?"

I shrugged

"Dunno," I answered honestly "I just can't shake these nerves. Don't know where they came from either, I was feeling fine until just a minute ago." Then I thought things over, remembering when I first felt this particular funny feeling. When I had called Marie to invite her over, I had gotten this peculiar feeling then and I couldn't place why that phone call felt like it had been months ago instead of days, but the feeling was the same. "You know how my profile sometimes acts like Alice's gift? Like I know something is going to happen, only 'cause it feels funny?"

Esme nodded, my hunches are less reliable then my profile, I've never fully trusted that part of my ability, my family tends to trust it more then I do.

"Does it feel like a hunch Chris?" Esme asked and I nodded

"That's exactly what it feels like when I talked to Marie the other day something felt funny and I don't know what it is, but I've still got a funny feeling about it."

Esme gave my hand a squeeze

"Sweetie, I'm sure it's nothing serious, it may just be a few butterflies and your hunch is making it difficult for you to focus."

I nodded, she was probably right, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. However, I made sure not to dwell on it as we pulled onto Burke's driveway. Marie came running out dressed for the occasion, her mum right behind her.

I didn't see Mr. Burke's car and wondered for a second where he was. Marie didn't give me a chance to ponder that either as she flew into my arms hugging me tightly. I mean it wasn't like we hadn't seen each other at school earlier in the day, but it still felt kind of nice that she missed me, but that look in her eyes it wasn't really noticeable, but for a profile, it was like a big neon sign. Marie had something she needed to tell me, she just wasn't sure how to go about it.

"Hi Chris," Mrs. Burke spoke up from the steps, she gave me a wave and I returned it, grinning, distracted for a moment from what was going on. Mrs. Burke had the same look in her eyes and I was really hoping I was just seeing things.

"Hi Mrs. Burke," I replied she walked over and hugged me, before hugging Esme, then Marie hugged Esme too, there was way too much hugging going on here.

"Thank you again for inviting Marie over for dinner, it's so nice for her to spend some time with Chris," Mrs. Burke said once the hugging was over with.

"It's our pleasure," Esme started "as I said on the phone, I am just sorry it has taken us this long to have her over." Esme looked at Marie and smiled "I do hope you like spaghetti and meatballs."

Marie's eyes lit up and she nodded quickly, Mrs. Burke began laughing and hugged Marie's shoulders

"Esme you just mentioned her favorite food."

"Well, that is a good guess if I ever saw one." Esme exclaimed she turned to Mrs. Burke "we'll have Marie home by about nine, is that all right?"

Mrs. Burke nodded and smiled

"Of course Esme, Marie doesn't have a curfew, so whatever time is best for you."

Esme nodded, the three of us piled back into Esme's Audi, I gave Marie the front seat and slid into the back, it seemed like the gentleman thing to do, I think.

Marie and Esme chatted the entire ride back to our house, I don't think they stayed on one topic for longer than a minute. Marie is really shy, I mean REALLY, but Esme is such an easy person to talk to and gives off such a strong motherly vibe, even Marie lost her shyness.

It's always been in the back of my mind about our abilities, well Alice, Jasper, Edward, and mine, sure they are actual abilities, but I've thought about my parents, Emmett and Rose too. I mean they have their own abilities that just aren't as noticeable amongst our kind (or…and yes I'll use one of my least favorite words, useful, I've mentioned it before, but I hate that word.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying their abilities aren't useful, I'm saying that someone like Aro wouldn't see Carlisle's compassion, Emmett's humor, Rosalie's control or Esme's mothering sense as useful powers to keep others of our kind in check.) I really hope that makes more sense than it did in my mind.

My point is I know for a fact that when we are changed, we all bring something with us into this life that is amplified, for me it was how I look at my surroundings, but for Esme who was already caring, devoted to family, and being a mother, not only did she bring that with her, but it got amplified into an ability. She has this aura she gives off where you know you can go to her and pour your heart out to her and she will simply cuddle you and try to protect you from the world, and believe me she will succeed, Esme is the very definition of a mother bear protecting her cubs.

I couldn't help my grin at Marie's comfort with my mother, and by the time we got home, the two of them were practically like mother and daughter. Esme was even offering up Rosalie and Alice to do Marie's nails and hair if she wanted. That part of the conversation made me roll my eyes, but what was I going do, I'm severely outnumbered for the moment.

"Hi Marie!" Alice exclaimed from the top of the stairs. She skipped carefully down minding her speed; Esme did give her a little look as she did so, just to make sure Alice knew to be gentle with Marie.

"Hi Alice," Alice was, however, the last one of my siblings Marie would be intimated by, they get along so great at lunch

Bella was right behind Alice and I had to hold back my laughter at how pissed she looked. She did put on a happier face when she saw Marie, but I know it was just so Marie's night wouldn't be ruined by Bella's obvious foul mood. I gave Bella a half-grin, thanking her for that, she rolled eyes, and returned the grin, reminding me that I wasn't Cullen she was mad at.

Rose came out of the garage, her arms crossed until she saw Marie. Apparently all of them had decided that they would not give Marie a bad first experience in the Cullen house. I was impressed, Rose had managed to put away her discontent with Bella, even if it was just for a few hours.

When we headed into the dining room, where Alice had set all the plates up creating a real family dinner (something never seen before in this house), Rose even sat next to Bella, clearly not happy about it, but she didn't say a word throughout dinner.

I was really glad Bella was over for this, with Bella at the table, it wasn't as obvious that Esme, my sisters, and I were eating as little as possible. The spaghetti must have been good because Marie asked for seconds and shyly piled her plate high with spaghetti and meatballs. Bella did the same, I think so Marie wasn't left out, but Bella was clearly still mad about being held, hostage.

"This is delicious Mrs. Cullen" Marie said softly as she finished up

"Thank you, Marie, that is very kind of you."

"Yeah mum, that was the best," I added grinning, then winced as Rose kicked my shin, I'll never understand that or why her and Alice flick my ears, do they really think I'm going to stop being a smart ass if they keep up with the corporal punishment? And besides, the comment was genuine and had nothing to do with the food. I was thanking Esme for preparing the meal for my friend.

Esme apparently knew this because she gave Rosalie a look before she began to clear the table. Marie reached for her plate and Esme shook her head

"No Marie, guests do not clean the table."

Marie gave me a look, knowing that was exactly what her mother had told me the first time I was over their house for dinner. I grinned and shrugged, the thing was unlike her mum, who gave in pretty easily when I offered to help, Esme wasn't going to take no for an answer. What made it worse though was she insisted that I give Marie a tour of the house and not help clean up, saying I was off the hook for one night. This led to my own look at Esme but didn't last very long because she returned it and I didn't want to argue with that look.

"So, you've seen the dining room, this is the family room," I said giving Marie the tour that Esme had asked for.

"Who's piano?" Marie asked as we passed Edward's noisemaker "do you play?"

"It's my brother Edward's, he plays. I hate to admit it, but he's really good at it too."

"Can you play?"

I shrugged

"A little, Edward's been teaching me the basics, I'm no Beethoven that's for sure." I paused "come on, let me show you my room." I guided Marie up the stairs as she stared in awe over the house. She was the first of my friends to see the house and I knew with the graduation party looming, she hopefully wouldn't be the last. I had plans to invite my friends to the party that way I wasn't bored as hell with my sibling's classmates, or worse put to work by my sisters.

When we reached my room Chaplin threw a fit. He was so confused at the new scent in the room, he was used to Bella but he knew this wasn't Bella.

Marie heard him instantly and looked over, I knew Marie loved animals, but I wasn't entirely sure if that love covered rats.

"You never told me you had a rat," she said smiling at Chap and I nearly sighed with relief. "he's adorable!

"I guess it never came up, that's Chaplin," I unlatched his cage and let him crawl out, he went right to Marie and sniffed her hand, before climbing up her arm. "He's not shy, watch out, if he likes you he'll fall asleep on your shoulder. Marie was about to comment when she finally looked around my room.

"Whoa Chris," she said in amazement "look at all this stuff," she looked over my books and grinned wide, Marie's a bookworm like me so I knew she'd appreciate it. I was also cautiously waiting for the bed question, or I should say the lack thereof a bed question, but it never came, Marie was to astonished by my stuff to notice something so insignificant. "I never knew you had so many books and look at all the movies you have, this is amazing."

"Hey anytime you want to borrow a book or a movie, or even come over and watch one let me know. My brothers and sisters don't share my taste in movies so I'm usually by myself."

Marie smiled a little

"That's right you like horror movies,"

"Among other things," I replied.

"Oh Chris," she moved to my desk and picked up the framed picture of my parents and me when I was a baby, it's in black and white of course, and I waited for the question from Marie, the clothes are clearly from another time and I wondered how I would explain that. "Are these…these your parents?"

I took a deep breath, I hated to lie to Marie but I didn't know what to really say.

"Ye…yes," I stumbled

"Did they like history as much as you?" she asked and I raised an eyebrow "I mean this picture is so old fashion looking and the way they are dressed, did they do it as a theme?"

I could have sighed with relief,

"They were real history buffs," I said truthfully, my dad loved history, so did my mum so I wasn't lying.

"You look so much like your dad," Marie added gently putting the picture back on my desk, and when she turned to face me her eyes were bright red and there were tears streaming down her face.

Marie is really sensitive and I know she's felt bad for me after hearing my story last year about what had happened to my birth parents.

We'd had a class assignment to write a memoir and I had written mine with the story that my real parents were killed in a car accident when I was five and I was formally adopted by my godparents, IE Carlisle and Esme. But that story had made the girls in my class go weepy and Marie was no exception. Still, it was weird she was crying now.

"Marie? What's wrong?" I asked,

Chaplin seemed to be asking the same thing as he sniffed her face gently, she hiccupped, somewhere between a giggle at Chaplin tickling her and still sobbing, Chap didn't like this situation and moved back down her arm to his cage.

"Chri…Chris, I didn't know how to tell you, I wanted to wait, but I can't wait any longer."

Then I realized what was about to happen, the funny feeling I had gotten over the phone, the odd feelings I've been getting from Marie lately, and the very weird feeling I'd gotten at her house in the afternoon. I was about to learn why I'd felt so funny.

"Tell me what?"

Marie rubbed her eyes and I reached over to hold her shoulder, she collapsed into my arms and sobbed into my shoulder. I was getting more and more concerned

"Chris, I'm moving at the end of June."

I felt my stomach drop in shock, didn't expect that one

"Wh…what?" I stuttered

She hiccupped again

"My dad was offered a coaching position at a college in Boston, Massachusetts, he's there now getting everything settled. It's his dream job, he's so excited."

"I…" I was stunned I wasn't sure what to really say "have you told anyone else?"

"Only Sarah I told her the other day, oh Chris, I'm going to miss you guys so much, I'm happy for my dad, but I don't want to leave…I love all my friends…I…I love you."

Those three words I never expected to hear from anyone who wasn't family, I've known Marie has liked me since we moved here when I was "in" sixth grade, but I knew it was just a first crush kind of thing. I remembered how things had gone down last year when we had "moved" after Bella's birthday and I realized the same thing was about to happen again and just like last year, I wasn't ready to accept it.

I knew I had to and I knew I had to give Marie her life, telling me that she loved me was just a part of the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing, a stage I still wasn't sure we were at. But this gave Marie the chance to have a life, Boston is a beautiful city, Marie would love it there, she'd have so many opportunities and it was best for her and best for the Burke family.

I gently rubbed Marie's back trying to calm her down, sad myself but accepting at the same time.


	18. Chapter 18

The rest of the night was pretty quiet, once I got Marie calmed down enough I got the whole story out of her, her dad hadn't been looking for a new job, but a mentor of his, who coached basketball at Boston College was preparing to retire, he had to pick a replacement and instantly thought of Mr. Burke. Mr. Burke had flown out to Boston the other day to sign paperwork and start looking for a house, he was willing to commute apparently so he had started his search outside of the city, actually, the main town he was scoping out wasn't too far from where the Patriots play in Foxborough, so I knew exactly where he was looking.

Marie was understandably to put it blunt, freaking out over the whole thing. I don't blame her, it's one thing to be used to moving around, but when you're shy like Marie and have spent your ENTIRE life in this town, moving anywhere, especially cross country is a daunting event.

I felt so bad for Marie, but what could I do exactly, except a promise to keep in touch with her and be a friend as much as possible. I let her pick a movie to watch and made a big bowl of popcorn for us to "share".

Once it was over, Esme and I drove Marie home, and after we dropped her off, we began the long and for the most part quiet ride home. I was still kind of stunned and trying to sort everything out.

A part of me was happy for Marie, she'd have a great life in Massachusetts, I've been to the Bay-state loads of times, I mean I was there a few months ago for a football game with my brothers and father, it's beautiful, she'd love the city, the state itself, plus the Cape has some beautiful beaches. Granted I've never seen it in the summer, I've only been there in the winter when there isn't much sun, but still, I love the Cape the instant I saw it, and I know Marie, she'd love it too.

What I couldn't help but think of was everything I was getting thrown my way, I don't often think about myself like that, the whole 'why me?' kinda thing, I mean how selfish can you get.

But I'd already lost one of my best friends a few months earlier (Charlie).

I was forcibly uprooted from a place I'd come to love and from friends I was close with, all because my idiot brother is paranoid.

I had to watch my entire family breakdown in fear at the thought that we might lose Edward, Alice, and Bella to the Volturi.

There was the distinct possibility that a vampiric serial killer who apparently fancied himself Jack the Ripper incarnate, was loose in Seattle and possibly recruiting minions, and aside from going to war, there wasn't much we could do about it.

Finally, a girl who I saw as a very close friend (in a way more than that) was moving. I don't believe in a lot of things, but all this happening kinda made me wonder what else could go wrong, what else I had to look forward too.

Thinking about that though, I quickly decided I didn't want to know, I had to stop letting my hunches overtake my profile, I shook my head, trying to change the subject in my head.

"Chris?" Esme said softly, bringing me back from my thoughts, I looked over at her and gave her a half-grin, trying to put on a mask. Esme knows me however, she clearly knew I wasn't as comfortable as I was pretending to be. "Christian, I'm so sorry about Marie,"

I shrugged

"Whatcha going to do, someone was bound to move on, if it wasn't Marie it would've been someone else in the group, it would've been us for all we know. I mean we can't keep going in Forks forever, we're going to move eventually. I'm just not sure if Marie moving first is the good step or the bad one."

Esme held her arm out and I caved, I leaned over and let her hug me close, sometimes you just gotta admit that you need a hug, especially with a mum like Esme.

"Sweetie, when is Marie moving?"

"End of June,"

"Well you guys just need to share as much time together and with your other friends as possible, you guys have a month, I know it doesn't seem like a lot of time, but you have the dance, and the graduation party, Marie is welcome at the house anytime Chris you know that I want you and Marie to make the most of this month if you guys want to go to a movie in Port Angeles you let me know and dad or I would be happy to drive you guys, anything you want to do together, we'll make it happen okay?."

I nodded

"Thanks, mum, that means a lot."

She kissed the top of my head, before looking at me carefully

"Chris, do you remember when I told you to look at things as a blessing in disguise?"

I searched my mind, trying to remember her saying those exact words to me, it took a second, but I did remember, it was my first Christmas eve with the Cullens, my first birthday as a vampire. Carlisle and Esme took me into town even though I was still a 'bloodthirsty' newborn vampire, it was in all fairness a pretty dangerous move on my parents' part, I was in pretty good control of my instincts, but a split second could change that. I remember I was feeling incredibly guilty during the mass, I felt like I had abandoned my human parents, especially my mother when she needed me the most.

I was pretty guilt-ridden my entire first year as a vampire, I never felt right about giving into this life so easy. A part of my subconscious ate away at me, whispering that death should have been the answer, not immortality, that I ran away like a coward, not the descendent of Scottish chieftains (though in all reality, my human father was never able to fully back up that particular story, that's beside the point.)

Esme and Carlisle did everything to convince me I was wrong, they wanted me to realize that I had nothing to feel guilty about, that my mother would not have wanted me to die that day when there was someone who could save my life. It may not have been the life she would have expected, but Esme reminded me that no mother would ever want death for her child over life, even if it wasn't a human life.

I still felt pretty guilty about the whole thing, especially with the last image of my mother branded in my mind forever, the sadness on her face when Carlisle told her I was dead, but I've slowly come to terms with it, I'm not as guilt-ridden as I was back then, it doesn't change anything and even if it could be changed, I don't think I would make a different decision, I don't think that if I was laying on that table again and Carlisle's offer was once again out there, I would do anything different. I've accepted my vampire life for the most part and besides, I love my family, I wouldn't trade all the years I've been with the Cullens just for the chance at a normal human death, oh yeah that's not morbid to think about.

I looked at Esme and nodded

"Yeah I remember, why?"

"This is the same kind of situation Chris, Marie is leaving there is no changing that, but it will be interesting to see where these changes lead, for both of you."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at my mother suspiciously, before profiling what she was actually saying, without really saying it.

"Oh mum, you guys aren't going back to the whole 'let's set Chris up again?' the Denali's were talking about the same thing last time we were up there."

"Oh you are so stubborn Christian," Esme replied, "would it really be so bad?"

"I've got four words for you mum: 'Russian, twenty years ago.' Need I say more?"

Esme rolled her eyes

"Sweetie it was a long time ago and it was one error in judgment, you're not going to hold that against us forever are you?"

"Maybe," I replied grinning

"So stubborn," was all Esme could reply to that.

When we got home the house was quiet, pretty quiet for a sleepover and I was pretty sure Bella had called it an early night.

I went upstairs, the door was open a crack, the lights were off, and I could hear Bella's deep breathing followed with little snores; she was clearly asleep and had been for a while. She wasn't sleeping well though, I could hear her rustling and little whimpers. I pushed the door open a little more and peeked in just to check on her.

A part of me wanted to laugh as she'd stubbornly ignored the bed that Edward bought her and had made herself well I'm assuming comfortable on the floor. That laughter was cut short though, I couldn't be sure, but I think she was having a nightmare, she'd kicked off the blankets and was kind of flailing around she couldn't settle.

I didn't want to be creepy, but someone clearly needed to calm Bella down, she was going to hurt herself. I hated to be the one, Bella knows me, but how would she react if she woke up and I was standing over her pulling a blanket back on her like I was tucking her in. I know I'd freak out, I'm pretty sure she would too, but someone had to…I took a cautious step forward, moving into Edward's room, maybe if I didn't make a sound I could do this quickly and not wake her up and therefore not freak her out.

"Chris?" Rosalie's voice came from behind me, apparently, she'd heard Bella's flailing too and I thought I was going to sigh with relief, whether Rose realized it she had a job to do.

"I think she's having a nightmare," I answered nodding at Bella, Rosalie kind of winced and sighed.

"Okay?"

I folded my arms over my chest and gestured into the room, Rosalie narrowed her eyes at me for a second before accepted and went into the room, she pulled the blanket back up over Bella. She lowered her voice and whispered

"Shh, Bella, calm down it's okay, I'm sorry, shhh." It was actually kind of motherly and I had to stifle a chuckle.

Bella didn't exactly calm down, but she did ease up on the flailing, Rosalie's words seemed to do the trick. I raised an eyebrow at my sister as she came back to the doorway.

"Two questions and I'm pretty sure you can answer one of them." I started to say,

Rosalie rolled her eyes and nodded for me to follow her to my room. Chaplin went berserk when he realized Rosalie was coming to visit him, she rolled her eyes again this time at him. She walked over to this cage, picked up his treats, unlatched his cage and gave him a small handful of sunflower seeds, before latching the cage back up.

I couldn't help but stare in shock, my mouth dropping open.

"Not a word Christian, I still blame his ancestors for the Bubonic plague," Rose growled, her back was to me so she was just assuming I was making a shocked face. I shrugged and grinned.

"Right, the epidemic that was started by infected fleas, not rats." I said, "anyways, my questions, why is Bella sleeping on the floor?"

Rosalie threw her hands up in the air and sat down on my window seat,

"Who the heck knows, some kind of grudge thing against Edward showering her with unnecessary gifts."

I thought that over, yeah it sounded pretty plausible, given we're talking about Bella and Edward, Queen and King of the land of Stubborn, I mean Esme can call me stubborn all she wants, I call it being prideful, it's a Scottish thing, Edward and Bella are the real stubborn ones in this family, only it's against each other.

"Okay so that explains the sit-in against the bed, but why the nightmare?" I asked looking at Rose expectantly, she shrugged, but I know my sister and I know when she's lying.

"How should I know, I'm not a mind reader." I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at her harder, she did know I could profile it, she was clearly aware of the fact that I knew and was going to tell me, she sighed "fine, I may…possibly be responsible for her nightmare, inadvertently."

"Rose what do you mean inadvertently?" I asked, trying not to grin

Rose narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head

"You told her your story; I felt that I should be allowed to share my own."

"Oh Rose you didn't," Rose crossed her arms and couldn't look me in the eyes "oh you did."

I walked over and sat down next to my sister, she looked so sad, not smug like one would expect, I knew it couldn't have been easy for her to tell Bella her story, it wasn't easy for me to tell mine, but considering, my own story is far less horrific than my sister's.

I remember the first time I heard about it, Edward told me, I don't know why he did, but I was glad he did, it helped me understand my sister a whole lot better. To go through what she went through and to still be the good person my sister is, it's inspiring. Rosalie may be a lot of things and come off as egotistical and spiteful, but she's not, even with what her fiancé and his friends did to her, even with Carlisle changing her without her permission and forcing this life on her.

Rosalie is one of the mentally strongest in our family, in a lot of ways that fall under that word's definition, but her horrific entrance to this life is one thing that made her strong. She's also on par with Carlisle as far as strength and resistance, she may have gone on a mini killing spree with her fiancé and his gang, but she never drank from any of them. Rosalie, like Carlisle and myself we've never tasted human blood, but unlike my father and sister I've come close to slipping a few times, my will is nowhere near as strong as them, I've just got physically stronger siblings and parents.

The few times I've come close to giving in, at least one member of the family was able to physically stop me from going through with it, Rosalie has never had that issue and it amazes me.

"She needed to know, she needed to know why I don't particularly care for her and why I think she's making such a big mistake." Rosalie explained and I nodded

"That's why I talked to her too, well sorta, I mean we disagree on the motives a little. I don't mind if Bella becomes one of us, I just think she's jumping into it way to fast, she's not looking at the bigger picture. It doesn't take a profiler or a psychic to see what the future will look like for not only Bella but those around her too, her father, mother, friends, everyone around her with a pulse. Edward's got her in such a bubble, he's just hoping she'll give up on this whole becoming a vampire thing if he doesn't tell her much, the good and the bad. He's an idiot sometimes." I paused "I mean I don't think us telling her what we went through is going to have a better effect, she's still going to insist on becoming one of us, but it definitely makes her think. She was crying after I talked to her and you just gave her nightmares. I think we've given her a lot to think about."

Rosalie reached over and hugged me tight; I think she needed the hug and I've learned over the years that if my sisters or mum wants to hug me, there is no escaping it and I should just man up and take it.

"Chris, did I hear right earlier? Is Marie moving?" that would be the main issue in a house full of vampires, if Edward's not invading your private thoughts, the entire family can hear the conversation no matter where in the house they are. I nodded, no point in denying it, Rosalie hugged me tighter "oh Chrissy I'm so sorry," she whimpered, "I know how important she was to you."

I nodded

"Thanks, Rose," I paused "I mean it's not like I was ever going to tell her about us, but I was hoping we'd have at least the summer to hang out. You know I was actually considering going back next year?"

"Back for your sophomore year?" Rosalie asked and I nodded

"Yeah, give it a try. I was going to test things out at the graduation party, see if anyone noticed. Guess there's no point in that now."

"Chris, was Marie the only reason you were going to go back to Forks next year?"

"No, not the only reason," I paused "just pretty much the main reason. I have my other friends are still there, so I guess I could go back." I paused "it won't be the same without Marie." I took a deep breath and laughed a little "this is going to sound so bloody stupid, but you know I actually felt normal hanging out with her, not just normal…I felt human again, I haven't felt like that since 1940. I felt like I was a regular high school freshman hanging out with his group of close friends. That's all because of Marie, she accepted me as a friend which allowed her group of friends to accept me."

"Chris that's not stupid at all,"

"Oh, believe me, it is, but if we can pull it off at the party, I guess I can try another year, maybe it was just Marie paving the way, maybe it won't be so different without her. But I'm kinda nervous to find out."

We both looked up when we heard footsteps coming up the stairs, very light footsteps that could only be Alice, she gently knocked on my door and came inside.

"Hi Chris," she said softly and I instantly realized that Alice had known what Marie was going to tell me tonight, she'd tried to hide it, but I had known something was up, but I was so focused on Marie coming over for dinner I ignored my instincts. "Chris I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I had a vision the other day of Marie telling you something I didn't know what it was, I just saw how sad she was and how sad you became, then when I focused my attention on her I saw her packing and I knew. I just didn't know how to tell you, Chris. You're not mad at me are you?"

I shook my head

"Alice doesn't worry about it, I'm not mad. With everything you've got on your watch list, this is a minor thing." I hugged my sister I grinned as she let go of me. "So, how'd your sleepover extravaganza go? I saw that the guest of honor has already crashed."

Alice frowned, her face turning grumpy quick; Rose however giggled a little, clearly feeling better about being the cause of Bella's nightmares.

"Bella is being uncooperative," Alice replied, her face went from grumpy to sad, Rose and I exchanged a look before looking back at our sister

"Alice, what's wrong now?" Rosalie asked

"Edward's going to take back the Porsche," Alice said, I rolled my eyes. The car was beautiful, well minus the color, if Edward was going to take it back I would hope he'd take it back to get it painted.

"Edward's not going to take back the car Alice, I promise I will guard your Porsche with every matter of my being." Alice looked at me carefully "and if he does try to take it back he'll find his Aston Martin, or should I say, not find his Aston Martin far, far away, like Timbuktu."

That got a smile out of Alice and another eye roll from Rosalie. We heard footsteps on the stairs and all of us looked as Esme peeked into the room, she gave us all a look shaking her head.

"Why is the party up here?"

"Because this is the general area where the guest of honor is currently zonked out?" I asked

"You guys are going to wake Bella up." Esme kind of scolded, she was smiling though, at this point I think Bella was going to sleep through anything just to spite Alice for her sleepover and Edward for his kidnapping orders.

I grinned

"Mum, I think a freight train could barrel through the house and it wouldn't wake her up." I replied, I looked at my sisters "these two are just mad that they couldn't recreate all those stupid sleepover movies." This was probably a bad thing to say, especially since I was sitting in between my two sisters, as both, in sync with one another reached up and flicked my ears on both sides.

"Christian you are such a brat," they both exclaimed

"Sheesh, sister in surround sound," I said my grin getting wider

"Why don't you three go find something to do?" Esme asked I looked over at my sisters

"can we take a peek under the hood of the Porsche?" I asked Alice, she pretended to hesitate and think this over, before she nodded

"Fine, you can go play with the Porsche-"

She didn't even get to finish that sentence, I was already heading downstairs straight for the garage. I love having new toys in my garage.


End file.
